The All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria's ruling party, has filed a motion to dismiss a petition by Peter Obi, the third-place candidate in the presidential election held in February 2023, according to court documents made public on Tuesday.
Peter Obi is challenging the victory of Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, following a controversial election.
Obi and Atiku Abubakar, the candidate who came in second place from the opposition People's Democratic Party, both challenged the election results in court last month, alleging that the results were fraudulent.
In response, the APC stated in a countersuit that Obi's challenge should be dismissed on various grounds, including that he was not a member of the Labour Party when he contested the elections and that he failed to include Atiku as a respondent, making his petition “incompetent.”
Obi was Atiku's running mate in the 2019 presidential election but left the People's Democratic Party in May last year to join the Labour Party. The APC argued that Obi was not yet a member of the party when the Labour Party submitted its members' register to the electoral commission, as required by law.
Atiku's petition is yet to be addressed by the ruling party.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu the winner with 37% of the votes cast, followed by Atiku's 29% and Obi's 25%. No court has ever overturned a presidential election result in Nigeria before.
Tinubu is set to be sworn in at the end of May.
The Appeals Court has yet to nominate judges who will constitute a tribunal to hear the presidential election petitions and deliver a verdict within 180 days from the date the court challenges were filed last month.
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