The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has requested that political parties who are not content with the result of the February 25 presidential election may seek legal remedy. This decision was based on the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, reported that Tinubu had 8,794,726 votes, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) had 6,101,533 votes in the election. However, the PDP, LP, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) collectively rejected the results of the election and requested a cancelation of the exercise, as well as the resignation of the INEC Chairman.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) have taken their grievances to court in regards to the nomination of Bola Tinubu as the All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer and president-elect. Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, spoke to The Punch on Sunday about the matter.
I advise aggrieved parties to seek the appropriate legal recourse available to them through the Election Petition Tribunal, should the outcome of the election not be satisfactory. In the case of the presidential election, two political parties have publicly expressed their dissatisfaction and stated their intention to pursue this legal channel.
INEC’s Result-viewing portal (IRev) experienced some disruption during the presidential and National Assembly elections, however it has since been resolved. The IReV portal has been confirmed to be operational and ready for the governorship and state Assembly elections scheduled for March 11, 2023.