Elections: 766 petitions flood election panels

Prof Mahmoud, INEC Chairman

Seventy-seven election petitions panels have been constituted to tackle the 766 elections petitions that accrued from the 2019 general elections. President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa constituted the 77 panels to hear and determine petitions that arose from the 2019 general elections across the federation.

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal which has already received four petitions challenging the return of President Muhammadu Buhari as winner of the February 23 presidential poll, will hold its proceedings at the Court of Appeal Headquarters in Abuja.

Other tribunals will hear cases at select high court premises in various states where Governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly elections took place, while in states adjudged to be volatile, their tribunal will be relocated to Abuja.

Mrs Rabi Abdulazeez, Deputy Chief Registrar at the Court of Appeal, on Tuesday, disclosed that petitions challenging the outcome of various elections that were conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, have increased from 736 that it was as at April 4, to 766.

She disclosed that 30 new petitions were lodged as at April 16.

According to the data that was released by Abdulazeez on Tuesday, aside the four petitions challenging the outcome of the presidential poll, a total of 101 petitions are querying results of the House of Representatives elections.

Similarly, the number of petitions seeking to invalidate results of Senatorial elections increased to 207, while a total of 402 petitions have been lodged against State House of Assembly elections.

Aside the petition marked CA/PEPC/002/2019, which was entered against President Buhari by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on March 18, another petition challenging the outcome of the February 23 presidential poll, marked CA/ PEPC/001/2019, was lodged by the Presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party, HDP, Chief Ambrose Owuru.

Owuru secured a total of 1,663 in the presidential election.

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, Pastor Aminchi Habu in another petition that was registered as CA/PEPC/004/2019, is asking for a fresh presidential election following the exclusion of his party logo on the ballot paper.

In its own petition marked CA/PEPC/003/2019, the Coalition For Change, C4C and its presidential candidate, Geff Chizee Ojinka, also urged the tribunal to nullify President Buhari's election.

"Petitioners contend that the above election was vitiated by substantial non compliance with mandatory statutory provisions, which irregularity substantially affected the election such that the 1st Respondent was not entitled to be returned as the Winner of the Presidential election", the party added.