The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja to dismiss all petitions challenging the victory of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25 presidential election. INEC, in its defence filed through its team of lawyers led by A. B. Mahmoud (SAN), described Atiku Abubakar’s petition as “grossly incompetent, vague and academic,” asserting that it was an abuse of the court process.

INEC emphasized that Tinubu was properly declared winner and returned as the President-elect, having scored at least one-quarter of the valid votes cast in 29 states, which exceeded the 24 states threshold required by the constitution, in addition to scoring the highest number of lawful votes cast.

INEC argued that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) should be recognized as a state, and therefore Tinubu’s victory in the FCT should be considered in determining the overall outcome of the presidential election. INEC stated that the FCT does not have any special status above the other 36 states of the federation, and therefore, a candidate does not need to obtain at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in the FCT to be declared winner.

ALSO READ: Lagos Governor Sanwo-Olu accused of submitting fake WAEC result to INEC, claims PDP governorship candidate Jandor

INEC contended that the FCT is regarded as the 37th state of the federation, and Tinubu had scored 25 per cent of the valid votes in 29 states, as stated above.

Addressing Atiku’s petition, INEC told the tribunal that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate could not have been declared winner as he failed to score at least one-quarter of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 36 states of the federation, as required by law. INEC also emphasized that the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act and that the use of the Biometric Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for voter accreditation and the uploading of polling unit results to the IRev portal were in line with its promise to conduct free, fair, transparent, and credible elections.

ALSO READ: Tinubu’s supporters express frustration as UberFacts resurrects accusations about the Nigerian president-elect’s past involvement in heroin business

INEC further stated that the BVAS device was a game changer, despite some glitches experienced on the day of the presidential election, as it was properly deployed and used to verify and accredit registered voters, as well as upload scanned copies of polling unit results through the e-transmission system to the IRev portal.