Nine Senior Advocates of Nigeria have been appointed by INEC to defend them. They will be defending the results of the February 25 elections. According to City Lawyer, the team will be led by former Nigerian Bar Association President, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN). Then, other members include Stephen Adehi (SAN), Oluwakemi Pinheiro (SAN), Miannaya Essien (SAN), and Abdullahi Aliyu (SAN).
Further, four SANs who are staff members of INEC’s legal department are also members of the team alongside Garba Hassan, Musa Attah, and Patricia Obi.
Equally important, INEC budgeted over N3 billion to defend the results of the February 25 elections and the March 18 polls.
Specifically, this is because several candidates who lost in the elections have filed petitions. Both at the presidential and state election petition tribunals 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.
Additionally, the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party, Peter Obi. Also the Action Alliance ;Solomon Okangbuan; and the Allied Peoples Movement, Chichi Ojei. They have all filed petitions for the nullification of the presidential election results.