The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) to uphold the submission by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that he won 21 states in the February 25 presidential election.
Atiku Abubakar made the request in his final written address in support of his joint petition with the PDP, challenging the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner of the presidential election.
In the final written address filed on July 20 by his lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), Atiku Abubakar said INEC’s assertion that he won in 21 states of the Federation was neither disputed, retracted, debunked nor claimed to be an error through the proceedings of the Court so far.
INEC had, in its response to Atiku Abubakar’s petition asserted that the PDP presidential candidate won 21 States of the Federation in the February 25 presidential election.
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, since INEC, which, in its averments claimed that he won 21 states and did not rebut the assertion throughout the proceedings, the Court should proceed to uphold the declaration.
The final written address reads in part, “Very importantly, the 1st Respondent (INEC) which 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 aggregates to 6,984,520 winning only 21 States to wit:
Adamawa, Akwa Ibom. Bauchi. Bavelsa. Borno, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina. Kebbi. Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Osun, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.