The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the petition
filed by Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), were not signed by a legal practitioner licensed
to practise in Nigeria.
Atiku had filed a petition before the presidential election tribunal to challenge the reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Atiku’s legal team is led by Livy Uzoukwu with 31 other lawyers.
In
its response as the first respondent in the case, INEC said the
petition was not signed by a legal practitioner enrolled in the Supreme
Court of Nigeria.
The electoral body said the results Atiku
claimed to have polled were “invented” solely for the petition, adding
that it never transmitted results electronically.
“That the
Petitioner’s Petition, List of Witnesses and List of Documents as filed
are incompetent and ought to be struck out as same were not signed by a
legal practitioner enrolled in the Supreme Court of Nigeria and licensed
to practise in Nigeria,” read INEC’s response to Atiku’s petition.
Speaking
with reporters in March, Uzoukwu had said the legal team of the PDP
presidential candidate had sufficient fact to back its case.
The electoral umpire, however, prayed that the petition be struck out for lack of competence.
