Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, has initiated an appeal to challenge the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court.

He seeks an overturn of the verdict due to the court’s failure to consider the “Doctrine of Legitimate Expectation” in relation to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) failure to conduct the election in line with its own guidelines and the Electoral Act of 2022.

In his Notice of Appeal, dated September 18, and filed by his lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, Atiku argued that the tribunal’s failure to apply the “Doctrine of Legitimate Expectation” constituted sufficient grounds for the Supreme Court to nullify the entire decision of the lower court.

Specifically, in the seventh ground of his notice, Atiku contended that the lower court erred in law by not annulling the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, due to non-compliance with the Electoral Act of 2022.

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Atiku asserted that INEC conducted the presidential election based on gross misrepresentation to both the appellants and the general voting public, promising that presiding officers would electronically transmit the election results directly from the polling units to the 1st Respondent’s Collation System.

However, contrary to these representations, INEC did not deploy electronic transmission of election results or the electronic collation system during the election, undermining the rationale behind the enactment of the new Electoral Act of 2022 and the introduction of technological innovations.

Atiku further stated that the lower court erroneously absolved INEC of any responsibility, ruling that the use of technological innovations to ensure transparency was not mandatory.

The former Vice President insisted that the February 25 poll was conducted based on a “very grave and gross misrepresentation” and was oppressive to the appellants, thus not meeting the standards of a free and fair election as outlined in the principles of the Electoral Act of 2022.