‘Uphold INEC’s announcement that I won in 21 states, declare me president’ – Atiku tells tribunal

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last election, Abubakar Atiku, has asked the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to uphold the declaration of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that he (Atiku) won 21 states in the February 25 presidential election.

Atiku made the request on Friday in his final address in support of his joint petition with the PDP seeking the nullification of INEC’s declaration of Ahmed Bola Tinubu as winner of the poll.

In the final address settled by his lead counsel, Chris Uche SAN, Atiku said that INEC’s assertion that he won in 25 states was neither disputed, retracted, debunked nor claimed to be error through the proceedings of the tribunal so far.

INEC had in its response to Atiku’s petition, asserted that the PDP presidential candidate won 21 states of the Federation in the last presidential poll.

The 21 states listed by INEC as having been won by Atiku and PDP are Adamawa, Akwa Ibom Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Osun, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.”

The former Vice President said that since the electoral commission, which on its own averments claimed that he won those states and did rebut the assertion throughout the proceedings, the tribunal should proceed to uphold the declaration.

The final written address read in part, “Very importantly, the 1st Respondent (INEC) who conducted the election made an open admission in paragraph 18 of its Reply to the Petition, where it unequivocally stated thus:

“The 1st Respondent further avers that in compliance with extant laws and regulations, it diligently discharged its duties when it collated the 1st Petitioner’s (Atiku) scores at the election, which aggregate to 6,984,520, winning only 21 states, to wit: Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Osun, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.

“Indeed, as admitted by the first Respondent (INEC), the first Petitioner (Atiku) won in these 21 states. It is important to note that throughout the trial, the first Respondent (INEC) neither refuted or countermanded this critical averment nor denied it.

“We urge your Lordship to hold that this constitutes an admission that requires no further proof. It also constitutes an admission against interest.

Atiku therefore pleaded with the Tribunal to uphold the assertion of INEC in the process and declare him winner of the February 25 Presidential Election.