By Faith Odu-
Beaten candidate in last month’s Nigerian presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday has lodged a legal challenge to the official result, his lawyer has said to reporters
Atiku Abubakar’s lawyer has announced plans for the defeated candidate to challenge what they allege to be the “sham” result, as he pledged to do so, after losing against the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari, 76, was re-elected president after an election process that claimed hundreds of lives, and in which rigging was widely alleged across the African country. He secured 56 percent of the vote against 41 percent for Abubakar, a winning margin of 3.9 million votes, according to the official results.Some reported vote-buying, intimidation, and violence towards voters and officials, which have been a problem in previous polls in Nigeria.
72 year old Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has now followed through with his promise to challenge the results, his lawyer Emmanuel Enoidem told reporters.
The PDP “asked that our candidate who won the election massively across the country be declared the winner of that election,” he said.
The unusual request made to the court in Abuja was for the judges to set aside the election results “on the grounds of irregularities which were very apparent across the country,” he added.
Enoidem said 400 witnesses were ready to appear before the presiding judges. The court now has 180 days to pronounce on the case which could then be appealed to the supreme court. Abubakar’s official inauguration is scheduled for May 29
At 35 percent across the country, low voter turnout was blamed on a combination of apathy because of the one-week delay, organisational problems and unrest. Nigeria is Africa’s richest country, bless with natural resources and many extremely gifted citizens. The overall progress of the country has been blighted by greed and a corrupt culture that has held its people down for several decades, and continues to do so.
Contesting the results of an election through the courts is unheard of in the Western world, not in countries like Nigeria where short cuts through financial incentives are seen as the path to the the top job. Mohammadu Buhari is believed to be one of the least corrupt leaders in the countries history, but some of his supporters have been accused of getting their hands dirty to secure his presidential leadership.