The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has set aside over N 3 billion to defend the results of the February 25 presidential and national assembly election and the March 18 governorship and state assembly polls.
The commission budgeted N2,104,965,000 for litigation and prosecution in 2022 and N3,087,195,425 in 2023.
Also, the commission budgeted N886.2m for legal drafting and clearance in 2022 and 2023.
This was revealed in INEC’s Election Project Plan for the 2023 general election, which has drawn the criticism of some political parties.
Several candidates who lost in the presidential and national assembly elections and the governorship and state assembly polls have filed petitions to challenge the outcome of the polls.
So far, over 100 election petitions have been filed by aggrieved candidates and their parties across the country.
The presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party, Peter Obi; the Action Alliance, Solomon Okangbuan; Allied People’s Movement, Chichi Ojei, have also filed petitions for the nullification of the presidential election results.
Election petition tribunals in over 12 states have equally received petitions from National Assembly candidates who are not satisfied with the results of the just concluded elections.
Some aggrieved candidates have protested in Ogun and Nasarawa states, vowing to challenge the results of the elections in court.