Withdraw the Certificate of Return that was issued to Tinubu and declare me the winner of the Feb. 25 election — Atiku tells Court of Appeal

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday night, March 21, filed a petition to challenge the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

Atiku, in the petition marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023 filed at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, applied for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that was issued to Tinubu by INEC.

He maintained that the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election was “invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022”.

“The 2nd Respondent was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the Election.

The 2nd Respondent was at the time of the Election not qualified to contest the Election,” Atiku said while listing grounds he said the court should consider nullifying Tinubu’s election.

He prayed the court to declare him the winner of the presidential election, having secured the second-highest number of lawful votes cast at the election.

It will be recalled that the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi, had Monday night, also filed a petition before the court to void the declaration of Tinubu as the President-elect.