Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has petitioned a court to declare him the winner of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) primary election and to remove Atiku Abubakar from the presidential ticket.
Wike and a PDP chieftain, Newgent Ekamon, sued Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, and the PDP over the party’s presidential primary, which was held in Abuja on May 28 and May 29, 2022.
Atiku was declared the winner of the primary election with 371 votes, 371 more than his closest challenger, Wike, who received 237 votes. Former Senate President Bukola Saraki received 70 votes. Tambuwal dropped out of the race and endorsed the former vice president before voting began.
Wike and Ekamon are listed as plaintiffs in the FHC/ABJ/CS/782/2022 suit, with the PDP as the first respondent and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the second respondent. Tambuwal and Atiku are the third and fourth respondents, respectively.
Wike and his co-applicant asked the court to rule on eight issues, including whether the PDP’s purported transfer of Tambuwal’s votes to Atiku was illegal and void.
The plaintiffs asked the court to rule on whether Tambuwal lost his right to vote when he stepped down for Atiku.
He asked the court to determine whether Tambuwal “having stepped down during the primaries ought to lose his votes.”
Wike and Ekamon argued that if these issues were resolved in their favour, the court should grant nine reliefs, including a declaration that the purported transfer of Tambuwal’s votes to Atiku be declared null and void.
The plaintiffs are also seeking a declaration that the PDP acted negligently and in bad faith by allocating the Sokoto governor’s votes to Atiku during the primary.
They prayed the court to “cancel the transfer of votes and a corresponding order restraining the 3rd respondent (Tambuwal’s) withdrawal in the primary was done after voting had commenced.”
The applicants also requested that the court rule that the PDP and Atiku took unfair advantage of Tambuwal’s withdrawal by allowing the Sokoto governor to persuade delegates to vote for the former Vice-President in the primary.
Wike and Ekamon asked the court to order INEC to reject or remove Atiku from “its list of candidates in the 2023 presidential election.”
They are also seeking an order commanding the PDP to recount the votes of the primary that was held on May 28 and May 29.
Lastly, the applicants are seeking an order of the court “directing the 1st respondent (PDP) to declare the 2nd applicant (Wike), a presidential aspirant in the May 28 and May 29 primary as the winner of the aforesaid primary with a corresponding order directing the 1st respondent (PDP) to forward his name as the candidate to contest the presidential election in 2023.”
Ekamon stated in a supporting affidavit that he was a member of the PDP and attested to Wike winning the presidential election.
He claimed Tambuwal withdrew from the race after voting began and directed that his votes be assigned to Atiku.
“The 1st (PDP) and 4th (Atiku) respondents who also wanted the votes desperately agreed with the 3rd (Tambuwal) and assigned 3rd (Tambuwal) respodnent’s votes to the 4th (Atiku) respondent and increased his votes to win the 2nd applicant (Wike).
“The 2nd applicant (Wike) won the primaries if the votes of the 3rd respondent (Tambuwal) had not been transferred or assigned to the 4th respondent (Atiku).
“If I wanted to scuttle the convention, I could have done that and I told them… I have never seen how people can violate procedures and guidelines. Somebody had spoken. It is only at that point he was speaking that he could say I have withdrawn. You don’t call him back,” Wike had said.
Debo Ologunagba, a spokesman for the PDP, said he was unaware of the case and thus could not comment.
Since his defeat in the presidential primary, Wike has been at odds with Atiku and Tambuwal.
He had chastised the PDP for allowing Tambuwal to canvass votes for Atiku after he had already spoken at the convention.
Wike accused Atiku of lying and sending ‘attack dogs’ after him last week.
The Rivers State governor stated that he will address the issues between himself, the PDP, and Atiku before the general election.
“When the time comes, I will speak and Nigerians will know what actually happened. And they will decide for themselves,” Wike said.
Atiku’s alleged rejection of a PDP committee’s recommendation to select Wike as his running mate for Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa strained their relationship even further.
In a TV interview last week, Atiku denied receiving a recommendation from a PDP panel vote to pick Wike as his running mate, instead stating that he chose Okowa because he wanted someone with whom he could work “amicably.”
