Seven Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) states on Friday night withdrew a Supreme Court petition to annul the result of February 25 presidential election that produced Bola Tinubu as president-elect.
The states – Sokoto, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Delta, Adamawa, Taraba – in a court filing signed by the state attorneys general, did not give reasons for their decision.
The ruling party’s All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Tinubu was declared the winner on Wednesday, but the two main opposition challengers said the result was fraudulent and vowed to challenge it in court.
The suit which listed the Attorney General of the Federation as plaintiff sought the intervention of the Supreme Court in the presidential election, noting that the election did not follow the Electoral Act and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s guidelines of uploading results electronically via IReV and BVAS.
In a Notice of Discontinuance signed by their lawyer, Mike Ozekhome on Friday, they said, “Take notice that the plaintiffs doth hereby wholly discontinue this suit against the defendant herein.”
In a separate suit, the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi secured a court order granting his party access to electoral materials in the possession of the electoral commission as his campaign gathers data for a possible legal challenge.
Obi, who placed third in the polls, behind Tinubu and main opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar, asked for and was granted access to materials, including ballot papers and voting machines, an order from the appeals court showed.
Obi still has three weeks to file a petition with the court, under the 2022 Electoral Act.
Election observers from the European Union, the Commonwealth and other bodies reported a range of problems during voting and counting, including failures in systems designed to prevent vote manipulation.
The observers criticised INEC for poor planning and voting delays but did not allege fraud. The commission apologised for technical problems during the count.
In Nigeria, elections are generally challenged at the Appeals Court, which sits as a tribunal.
There have been numerous legal challenges to the outcome of past Nigerian presidential elections but none has succeeded.
