By Enyichukwu Enemanna
In preparation for the plethora of legal battles ahead of it following the controversial victory of its candidate at the recently concluded presidential polls in Nigeria, the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) has assembled at least 12 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) in its legal team to defend president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the party.
The rank of a SAN is awarded as a mark of excellence to members of the legal profession who have distinguished themselves as advocates and academics, and is regarded as the highest honour in Nigeria’s legal jurisprudence.
Tinubu’s victory on the Feb. 25 presidential election has generated reactions from within and outside the country, with the opposition parties alleging large scale rigging aided by the umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), an allegation the commission has repeatedly denied.
United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard was one of those who insisted that the election fell short of the expectations of the Nigerians, stressing that a large population in the West African country that has consistently battled economic downturn, insecurity, human rights violation, burgeoning out-of-school children and multi-dimensional poverty in the last eight years of APC are angry with the electoral outcome.
Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, almost two million votes more than his closest rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while Peter Obi of the Labour Party finished the race with 6,101,533.
Both Atiku and Obi have rejected the outcome of the election, vowing to challenge the result in court. Atiku and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party on Monday protested in black attires at the national headquarters of INEC in Abuja, a move the party said will not stop its decision to challenge Tinubu’s victory in court.
Indicating its willingness willingness to slug it out with the aggrieved opposition candidates, the APC National Legal Adviser, Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq in a statement on Tuesday released a 13-man list comprising 12 senior advocates.
Top on the list is a legal icon, Wole Olanipekun, who is also the lead counsel to the ruling party at the Presidential Election Tribunal.
“The All Progressives Congress (APC) has appointed a team of highly qualified and experienced lawyers to represent the Party at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal,” the statement read.
“The team is comprised of legal luminaries with vast experience in election petition matters, constitutional law, and litigation.
“The legal team consisting of twelve (12) Senior Advocates of Nigeria and the National Legal Adviser of the Party, Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq, Esq., is led by Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, a renowned lawyer who has successfully handled various high-profile election matters and other landmark cases.”
Other members of the list are Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq, Sam Ologunorisa, Rotimi Oguneso, Olabisi Soyebo, Gboyega Oyewole, Muritala Abdulrasheed, Aliyu Omezia Saiki, Tajudeen Oladoja, Pius Akubo, Oluseye Opasanya, Suraju Saida and Kazeem Adeniyi.
The party expressed confidence “that the legal team possesses requisite expertise and experience to ensure a successful outcome for the APC in the Presidential Election Petition matters.”
El-Marzuq called on all parties involved to conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism and respect for the rule of law throughout the legal process.
INEC had before the election assured that it will upload the results on its IREV portal real-time to reduce chances of manipulations and fraud, but the commission failed, instead resorted to manual collation, a development that led to leaders of opposition stage a walk out at the Abuja national collation centre.
