ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appointed about nine Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), to defend the results of the presidential election held on 25 February, 2023.
According to City Lawyer, the team is to be led by former Nigerian Bar Association President, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN).
Other members of the team are Stephen Adehi (SAN), Oluwakemi Pinheiro (SAN), Miannaya Essien (SAN), and Abdullahi Aliyu (SAN).
A member of the legal team disclosed that four SANs who are staff members of INEC’s legal department are also members of the team alongside Garba Hassan, Musa Attah, and Patricia Obi.
It was gathered that INEC budgeted over N3bn to defend the results of the 25 February presidential and national assembly elections and the 18 March governorship and state assembly polls.
Meanwhile, several candidates who lost in the elections have filed petitions at the presidential and state election petition tribunals to challenge the outcome of the polls.
So far, over 100 election petitions have been filed by aggrieved candidates and their parties across the country.
Also, the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party, Peter Obi; the Action Alliance, Solomon Okangbuan; Allied Peoples Movement, Chichi Ojei, have filed petitions for the nullification of the presidential election results.
The INEC had on 1 March, 2023, declared Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, as the winner of the 25 February, 2023 presidential election.