Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 25 February election, says Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu, is encumbered by drug and identity scandals.

Atiku and his party are challenging Tinubu’s victory at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja. The drug allegation is part of the grounds on which Atiku anchored his petition.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mr Tinubu the winner of the election with 8,794,726 votes, to defeat his closest challenger, Atiku, who polled 6,984,520 votes.

But Atiku accused INEC and Tinubu of fraud and substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the constitution during the conduct of the 25 February election.

Tinubu in his response to Atiku’s petition described the former Nigeria’s vice president as a “serial loser.”

The president-elect detailed Atiku’s several, but unsuccessful bids for the presidency since 1993 when he first ran for the top job before becoming President Olusegun Obasanjo’s deputy from 1999 to 2007.

‘Tinubu a giant in forfeiture, drug-related offences’

Responding to Tinubu’s reply to his petition, Atiku noted that, unlike Tinubu, he had been able to vie for the presidency without any controversy. Atiku’s reply is on point of law which closes further exchange on the substance of his petition before hearing begins in court.

The former Vice President boasted that records of his identity and educational qualifications have remained untainted.

Atiku argued that Tinubu is constitutionally barred from contesting for the presidency on account of his indictment for drug-related offences in the United States of America.

In the filings, Atiku’s lawyer, Chris Uche, said Tinubu forfeited $460,000 as a compromise agreement.

Tinubu’s alleged dual citizenship

Responding further, Atiku faulted Tinubu’s victory on the ground that he “holds dual citizenship of Nigeria and Guinea, having voluntarily acquired the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea.”

Moreover, the PDP presidential candidate accused the president-elect of failing to disclose facts of his constitutional qualifications in his Form EC9 submitted to the INEC, in breach of the law.

Atiku admitted that Tinubu may be a “Titan and a Maestro,” but that the “President-elect is certainly not a titan and maestro in national stature but in controversies such as age, state of origin, identity, educational qualifications represented by certificates obtained from universities and colleges”.

“The comparison of the second respondent (Tinubu) with the first petitioner (Atiku) who had attained the eminent position of Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for eight years is totally unfounded.”

Atiku is urging the court to either declare him as president or nullify the polls on account of Tinubu’s failure to secure a majority of lawful votes cast during the presidential election.

He is also contending that Tinubu did not score 25 per cent of lawful votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, as statutorily required.

Tinubu dodgy on issues

The petitioner further accused Tinubu of deliberately refusing to respond to serious issues raised in the petition.

Atiku said Tinubu’s reply to the petition has been “contradictory, evasive, speculative and vague.”

On the issue of abuse of the court process raised by Tinubu against the petitioners, Atiku argued that his suit was properly filed.

He noted that the earlier suit filed by PDP-controlled states at the Supreme Court had been withdrawn.

In the suit filed on 28 February, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Taraba and Sokoto States sued the federal government at the Supreme Court, questioning INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu’s declaration of Tinubu as president-elect.

PT