The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal for the 2023 election would be a battle of Senior Advocates of Nigerian as over 50 have been hired by the three major candidates in the election.

The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Wednesday, inaugurated 19 SANs with a mandate to upturn the victory of the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

While more than 12 SANs, according to the chief spokesman of the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, were being assembled to defend the President-Elect, Peter Obi of the Labour Party has hired about 20 SANs.

Inaugurating the team on Wednesday at his campaign headquarters in Abuja, the former Vice President, charged it to establish the claim of illegality in the February 25 presidential election and reclaim the mandate of the Nigerian people.

Atiku told the team that apart from reclaiming the mandate from those who undertook the electoral heist that was not a reflection of the will of Nigerians, the legal team should also use the opportunity of the trial to strengthen constitutional democracy in the country.

Addressing the team headed by Chief J. K. Gadzama, SAN, Atiku said it was imperative that they work assiduously in reclaiming the mandate not necessarily because of him and the PDP, but to strengthen democracy and the electoral process and for generations unborn.”

The members of the team include Chief Chris Uche (SAN), Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), Tayo Jegede (SAN), Ken Mozia (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Mahmood Magaji (SAN), Joe Abraham (SAN), Mr Chukwuma Umeh (SAN), Dr. Garba Tetengi (SAN) and Chief Emeka Etiaba (SAN).

Others are Chief Goddy Uche (SAN), Prof. Maxwell Gidado (SAN); the National Legal Adviser of the PDP, A. K. Ajibade (SAN), Mr. O. M. Atoyebi, (SAN), Mrs. Nella Rabana (SAN), Paul Ogbole (SAN), Nuremi Jimoh (SAN), and Abdul Ibrahim (SAN).

 

The National Secretary of the Labour Party, Umar Farouk, while confirming more than 20 SANs for the case, disclosed some expressed their interest in joining the legal battle to prove Obi’s case.

 “We have more than 20 SANs that are willing to participate and offer their services for the renewal and emergence of a new Nigeria. As I am talking to you, our lawyers are working on it.

“But this is not something we can discuss on the pages of a newspaper. All I can tell you is that we have started ‘trekking’ to the court,” he said,

Asked if the leadership of the party and the candidate had been able to garner concrete evidence other than the alleged isolated incidents the APC claimed the Labour Party was dangling to get public sympathy, Farouk said, “The court is not a polling box that they can smash and put in what they want.

“If the APC thinks they can pre-empt the court, let them do it. They had earlier pre-empted the election that they were going to win by hook or crook and they had claimed they won. Let’s wait and see. Unlike INEC, the judiciary is a different thing.

“We have seen how independent the commission is. But we need to also examine how independent the judiciary also is in a matter of this magnitude. Let’s see the solace it can offer the masses. Let’s see if the judiciary has also shattered the hope of Nigerians just as INEC did.”

On the other hand, Keyamo, said the APC was not intimidated by the number of SANs from the opposition, adding that about 12 have been put in place not only to defend Tinubu’s victory, but to also challenge the votes garnered by the opposition parties.

Although he did not reveal the names of members of the legal team, the legal directorate of the Tinubu Campaign Organisation is led by Babatunde Ogala.

Keyamo said, “The number of our advocates is around that figure (12). But I can’t confirm the exact figures at the moment. However, it doesn’t matter the number of SANs, it is not a competition.

“I am a lawyer and can tell you specifically that the numbers don’t matter. It is all about the quality of evidence. But I can tell you that we have enough to nullify more of their votes than theirs to nullify our own.”