President Bola Tinubu has urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal filed by Atiku Abubakar challenging his victory in the February 25 presidential election.

In his respondent’s brief, Tinubu said that Atiku’s appeal was “laced with thrilling suspense, stunning surprises and ecstatic hide-and-seek recreational activities.” 

He also said that the claim that his credentials contained discrepancies was “cooked up” by Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party after failing to secure evidence to support their claim that he was not qualified to contest the election.

Tinubu argued that he was validly elected, having polled the highest number of votes and garnered one-quarter/25 per cent of the total votes in 29 states. He said that Atiku and the PDP only managed to secure 25 per cent of the total votes in 21 states, “as against the constitutional requirement of 24.7 states, which is the mathematical results of two-thirds of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT (making 37).”

“Starting from the allegation of non-qualification of the respondent, all that the appellants submitted to the lower court through their petition was that the second respondent (Tinubu) was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the election not having the constitutional threshold.”

“While they also claimed to have won the highest number of votes cast at the election, as against INEC’s declaration, throughout their petition they did not suggest an alternative score which they considered correct, whether for themselves or the respondent.

“Though they had alleged that the election was riddled with non-compliance and corrupt practices, the paragraphs of their petition putting up these allegations were nothing short of vague, imprecise, generic and nebulous.

“For these allegations which ought to have been specifically demonstrated through facts and figures like polling units and numbers, the appellants, through their petition, chose to regale the lower court and the respondents with breathtaking suspense by stating that the said facts will be disclosed in their statistician’s report which was not part of the petition filed.

“It is only commonsensical that the respondents will only be able to respond to the facts in the petition and not on the crucial, albeit anticipated statistician’s report, since even the devil himself knows not the heart of man.”

Tinubu also argued that Atiku and the PDP failed to prove their allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, corrupt practices, non-scoring of a majority of lawful votes cast at the election, and non-qualification of the respondent. 

He said that their allegations were vague, imprecise, generic, and nebulous, and that they did not provide any specific facts or figures to support their claims.

Tinubu, however, urged the Supreme Court to affirm the decision of the lower court, which upheld his election. 

He said that Atiku’s appeal was lacking in merit and bona fide and further demonstrated the abusive nature to which the appellants have subjected court processes.