The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appointed nine Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) to defend the results of the February 25 presidential election, which produced Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner and president-elect of Nigeria.
According to City Lawyer, the team will 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 confirmed that four SANs from INEC’s legal department are also members of the team alongside Garba Hassan, Musa Attah, and Patricia Obi.
INEC budgeted over N3 billion to defend the results of the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections and the March 18 governorship and state assembly polls.
Recall that INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, on March 1, 2023, declared the All Progressives Congress candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
However, his victory is being challenged by several candidates who lost in the election over claims that the commission erred in declaring Tinubu winner because he failed to meet all the constitutional requirements for a candidate to emerge.
Also, some candidates and their political parties accused INEC of manipulating the results of the election.
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 also filed petitions for the nullification of the presidential election results.
