Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has responded to the preliminary objection filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Bola Tinubu, in response to Atiku’s petition challenging Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.
Atiku, who came second in the election, argued that Tinubu was unfit to be Nigeria’s president due to several controversies he is embroiled in, including alleged drug and identity scandals, unlike him, who has been gunning for the presidency since 1993 without any controversy.
Tinubu had described Atiku as a “serial loser” who had been trying unsuccessfully to become president since 1993, but Atiku replied that he towers above Tinubu, and there was no basis for comparison.
Atiku’s counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), argued that Tinubu was not fit to be Nigeria’s president because he allegedly forfeited $460,000 to the US government in a drug-related court case and holds dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea, having voluntarily acquired the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea.
Meanwhile, the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of bias and described as embarrassing the insistence of the electoral umpire that Tinubu won the election and that the petitions challenging the declaration should be dismissed.
Obi said it was bizarre that INEC filed a preliminary objection to the petitions challenging Tinubu’s victory, which is not consistent with global best practices for electoral umpires in national elections.
Atiku, Obi and some other parties rejected the results announced by INEC and went to the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja with prayers that the election should be nullified.
Atiku maintained that the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the elections should be annulled because he did not secure 25 per cent of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory.
The APC Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, defended the President-elect and berated Atiku, saying that he was a perpetual loser who knew the outcome of the election from the outset.