Security has been beefed up as the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal Abuja has begun the pre-hearing of the petitions challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress polled 8,794,726 votes to win the election. While Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party came second with 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi was third with 6,101,533 votes.
Not satisfied with the outcome, Atiku and Obi approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to annul Tinubu’s victory. It was observed that security around the court premises is almost impervious as men of the Nigerian Police Force cordoned off the road leading to the court.
From the Cause list, the unveiling of the tribunal, the first case to be adjudicated, is the Action Alliance (AA) and its Presidential Candidate in the election, Solomon David Okanigbuan notifying the tribunal of their intentions to withdraw their petition against the declaration of Tinubu as Nigeria’s President-elect after the unveiling of the tribunal.
Besides Tinubu, others listed as respondents in AA’s petition are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), All Progressives Congress APC and Hamza Al Mustapha.