DECLARE ME WINNER OF FEB 23 ELECTION - ATIKU TELLS TRIBUNAL

Declare me winner of February 23 election - Atiku tells tribunal - The presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, challenges President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election before an election tribunal in Abuja - The PDP national legal adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem, says the party is also seeking for the election to be aside over alleged widespread irregularities - The spokesman of the Atiku campaign organisation, Segun Sowunmi, urges the judiciary to deliver a judgment that reflects that the Nigeria is practicing democracy The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has asked the presidential election tribunal to declare him winner of the February 23 election. Atiku made the request in a petition filed before the tribunal in Abuja on Monday, March 18, where he challenged President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election, The Cable reports. The PDP national legal adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem, told journalists that in addition to the request that Atiku be declared the winner of the election, the party is also seeking for the election to be aside over alleged widespread irregularities. “In the alternative, we also asked that the election be set aside on the ground of irregularity which was apparent across the country.” “We have also lined up more than 400 witnesses that are going to testify in this petition,” he said. Speaking on the issue, the spokesman of the Atiku campaign organisation, Segun Sowunmi, urged the judiciary to deliver a judgment that reflects that the country was practicing democracy. “The judiciary should do what is right; examine the issues and deliver to Nigerians the kind of judgement that represent the fundamental operating principle of why we are in democracy and why the judiciary is the last hope of the common man," he said. In another report, the Cross River stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have called for the cancellation and a re-run of the February 23 and March 9, governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections in the state. Hilliard Eta, the APC south-south national vice chairman, made the call on Monday, March 18, in Abuja while speaking with newsmen on the outcome of the elections. Eta described the elections that were conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a sham and would not stand the test of time.