PDP, Atiku withdraws application filed against INEC

The Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, have withdrawn an application they filed to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to allow their agents to participate in the process of sorting out ballot papers that were used for the February 25 presidential election.

Both the Party and its candidate are challenging the outcome of the election that was declared in favour of Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

A member of Atiku’s legal team, who did not want his name mentioned, disclosed that the decision to withdraw the application was an outcome of a meeting his legal team held with the leadership of the electoral body on Tuesday

”However, before the application which was dated March 13 could be slated for hearing, INEC, on its own, called our legal team for a meeting.

“It was at that meeting which held yesterday (Tuesday) that all the grey areas were sorted out, with INEC pledging to allow our agents to observe the process of sorting out some of the electoral materials we requested, especially the ballot papers.

“Since that was primarily our prayer in the fresh application we filed, we felt that it would not be necessary to proceed with the hearing. So, to save judicial time, we filed a notice of discontinuance which was accordingly granted, he said