National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement, Chief Frank Igwebuike, has applied to the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal for the withdrawal of the party from a petition challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari at the February 23, 2019 poll.
In a motion filed before the five-man tribunal led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the PDM National Chairman stated that the party had “in its wisdom re-evaluated the probability of the petition succeeding and decided to withdraw”.
The motion was anchored on a certain March 5, 2019 letter credited to the Independent National Electoral Commission acknowledging the party’s list of candidates submitted for the 2019 general elections but informing the party that “the period of submission of candidates has passed”.
But the PDM’s presidential candidate, Pastor Aminchi Habu, and some other members of the National Working Committee have opposed Igwebuike’s application, insisting that the party would prosecute the case to the end.
The National Secretary of the PDM, Abubakar Gwada, said in a counter-affidavit opposing the motion that the party “is still very much interested in support of the instant petition and a decision to withdraw the name of the 2nd petitioner (PDM) from this petition can only be taken by the National Executive Committee of the party or the National Working Committee of the party”.
