The President‑elect’s camp, led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, says it would be absurd for him to answer the petitions filed at the election tribunal by Labour Party candidate Peter Obi and Peoples Democratic Party candidate Atiku Abubakar, since he has not been served with notice. This statement comes five days after Obi formally lodged his petition to contest the February 25 poll results, a filing that follows the contentious presidential and National Assembly elections that produced the president‑elect.
According to Babatunde Ogala, Legal Director of the Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council, Tinula was not served with the notice before he left the country for a vacation in France last week. The PDP and LP candidates have accused Tinubu of deliberately avoiding service and told the tribunal that multiple attempts to serve the APC candidate had failed. In response, the election tribunal in Abuja ordered Obi and Atiku to serve the petitions by substituted means, specifically through Tinubu’s party, the All Progressives Congress.
In a phone interview, Yunusa Tanko, Chief Spokesman of the Obi‑Datti Presidential Campaign Council, expressed disappointment, saying Tinubu’s recent trip appeared to be an attempt to evade service. “They deliberately frustrated the process. That man practically ran out of the country after evading being served the notice. But our party will serve him the notice through the APC. I am sure they must have received it by now,” he said.
When asked when Tinubu’s legal team expects to respond to the petitions, Ogala reiterated that no notice has been served. “How can we fix a date for that? We will file our response before the time lapses,” he said. He also denied that Tinubu left the country to avoid service, noting that as of that morning Tinubu had not received a copy of the petition. “They only obtained an order for substituted service on Friday, so they have to serve him. The earliest they can serve is Monday, and he has 21 days from then. Until we are served the petition copy, our time does not start counting,” Ogala explained.
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