According to court records released on Tuesday, the ruling party in Nigeria has requested the Appeals Court to reject a plea filed by third-placed candidate Peter Obi, who is contesting Bola Tinubu’s election as president following a contested election in February.
Peter Obi, the third-place finisher for the Labour Party, and Atiku Abubakar, the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, who finished in second place, both filed legal challenges against the election results last month.
The All Progressives Congress Party (APC), Tinubu’s party in power, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were cited by the two candidates as responses when they claimed the results were rigged.
In May of last year, Obi, who served as Atiku’s running mate for president in 2019, defected to the Labour Party. The APC contends that Obi was not yet a member when the Labour Party legally obliged the election commission to receive its member list.