Presidential ticket: Wike sues Atiku, Tambuwal, PDP, INEC (see court papers)

Rather than thaw, the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the build up to the 2023 presidential election has deepened.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who lost the presidential ticket to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has sued Atiku, PDP, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

During the primary in Abuja, Atiku won with 371 votes. Wike got 237 votes and former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, garnered 70 votes.
Atiku also picked Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate.
Since then, Wike has been fighting everybody in the party.
He has also declared that the party’s National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, must go.

During the primary, Tambuwal, an aspirant, stepped down for Atiku.
When Atiku was declared the winner, Wike blamed his defeat on Tambuwal’s decision to step down for Atiku “at the last minute”, insisting that the process was unfair.
It is not clear if Tambuwal’s action violated the party’s standing rules. 
Wike filed the suit alongside another PDP member, Michael Newgent Ekamon, at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.
The parties were served on July 1, and a PDP official in Abuja responded to the originating summons on August 5.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/782/2022, Wike and Ekamon are listed as the plaintiffs.

In the originating summons, the PDP is listed as the first respondent while INEC is the 2nd respondent. Tambuwal and Atiku are listed as the 3rd and 4th respondents respectively.
In the originating summons, Wike and his co-applicant asked the court to determine eight issues including whether the purported transfer of Tambuwal’s votes to Atiku by the PDP was illegal and void.

The plaintiffs asked the court to determine if Tambuwal lost his claim to votes, the moment 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 should these issues be determined in their favour and that 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 assigning the Sokoto governor’s votes to Atiku at 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 done after voting had commenced”.
The applicants also prayed the court to declare that the PDP and Atiku took undue advantage of Tambuwal’s withdrawal when they allowed the Sokoto governor to persuade delegates to vote for Atiku 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.”
In a supporting affidavit he deposed to, Ekamon noted that he was a member of the PDP and attested to the fact that Wike won the presidential election.

He maintained that Tambuwal withdrew from the contest after voting had commenced and directed that his votes be assigned to Atiku.
The third respondent (Tambuwal) speaking twice before stepping down from the contest, persuaded all his delegates who were going to vote for him to vote for the 4th respondent (Atiku).

“The 1st (PDP) and 4th (Atiku) respondents who also wanted the votes desperately agreed with the 3rd (Tambuwal) and assigned 3rd (Tambuwal) respondent’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).
A source at the PDP Headquarters in Abuja said “lawyers in the Legal Department are already studying the papers”.