The All Progressives Congress (APC) said on Friday that it was ready to defend the mandate of its candidate, Bola Tinubu, at the court after the losers of the 2023 presidential election filed a suit to challenge his declaration as the winner.
The candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), have also, both sought permission from the Presidential Election Court (PEC) in Abuja to inspect the electoral materials as they push further to reclaim their allegedly stolen mandate.
Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party insisted that they have evidence to prove in court that the February 25th election was rigged
Speaking on Obi and Atiku’s claims, the APC Presidential Campaign Council on Friday said it had constituted a legal team to defend the mandate given to the party and the President-elect, Tinubu, by Nigerians in the keenly contested election held on February 25.
the ruling party’s campaign council stated this during a press conference in Abuja on Friday, March 3, in response to the separate press conferences held by the PDP and Labour Party’s candidates on Thursday.
The spokesperson for the APC PCC, Festus Keyamo, said he was part of the legal team constituted by the party.
According to Keyamo, “As I am talking to you, we have constituted our legal team. We are going to court too. Let it not be that they are the only ones going to court. I am part of the legal team.”
Also speaking, the Special Adviser on Media and Communication of the APC PCC, Dele Alake, said the aggrieved presidential candidates’ decision to challenge Tinubu’s victory in court is a welcome idea.
He thanked the two oppositions for “opting for the rule of law,” after “the initial belligerent posture as they continue their baseless journey of chasing after a mirage.
Alake added, “We must say, however, that listening to both Atiku and Obi yesterday left us in the APC family confounded. We understand that there has been an orchestrated campaign by the PDP and the LP acolytes in the media to discredit the presidential election.
What we did not expect is that the two presidential candidates and, indeed, their political parties, would shamefully re-echo the puerile and unimaginative arguments that are being canvassed by political illiterates and mischief-makers who are crying wolf on social media.”
He noted that the claim that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was false and an attempt to discredit the votes lawfully cast by Nigerians. Alake stressed that voters across Nigeria, including Atiku and Obi, were accredited by the BVAS.