The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appointed nine Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) to defend the Commission’s declaration of the results of the February 25 presidential election.

The legal team of the commission will be led by Abubakar Mahmoud, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) while other members will include Stephen Adehi (SAN), Oluwakemi Pinheiro (SAN), Miannaya Essien (SAN), and Abdullahi Aliyu (SAN). Four other senior advocates who are staff of INEC’s legal department will join the team alongside Messrs Garba Hassan, Musa Attah, and Patricia Obi.

INEC had on March 1, 2023, declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the presidential elections. This has however been disputed by some political parties who have filed petitions at the presidential election tribunal. Peter Obi of the Labour party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP have filed petitions before the the three-man panel of the election tribunal challenging the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.