Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has appointed 12 senior advocates of Nigeria (SANs) to defend the victory of Bola Tinubu at the presidential election petition tribunal.
Lateef Fagbemi will lead a team of other senior advocates that include Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq, the national legal adviser of the party.
The party unveiled the list containing the legal team on Tuesday.
Other members are Sam Ologunorisa, Rotimi Oguneso, Olabisi Soyebo, Gboyega Oyewole, Muritala Abdulrasheed, Aliyu Omeiza Saiki, Tajudeen Oladoja, Pius Akubo, Oluseye Opasanya, Suraju Saida, and Kazeem Adeniyi.
“We are confident that the legal team possesses requisite expertise and experience to ensure a successful outcome for the APC in the presidential election petition matters,” the statement reads.
“We urge members of the party to support the team in its effort to defend the will and mandate of the people.
“We also call on all parties involved to conduct themselves with utmost professionalism and respect for the rule of law throughout the legal process.”
On March 1, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
However, the major opposition parties in the country rejected the results over alleged irregularities and non-compliance to the provisions of the electoral act.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) have approached the presidential election tribunal to challenge the victory of Tinubu.
On March 3, Atiku Abubakar of PDP and Peter Obi of LP secured the leave of the court to have access to all the sensitive materials used by INEC in the conduct of the election.