By Ima Elijah

The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has recently withdrawn his application for the sorting of electoral materials, which he required to prepare a petition against the outcome of the February 25th election.

Reports suggest that Atiku made this decision after holding a meeting with officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, March 14, 2023.

What happened in the meeting: The INEC has reportedly pledged to permit PDP agents to observe the sorting process of the requested electoral materials, including the ballot papers.

What was said: “It was at that meeting which held yesterday (Tuesday) that all the grey areas were sorted out, with INEC, pledging to allow our agents to observe the process of sorting out some of the electoral materials we requested for, especially the ballot papers.

“Since that was primarily our prayer in the fresh application we filed, we felt that it would not be necessary to proceed with the hearing.

“So, to save judicial time, we filed a notice of discontinuance which was accordingly granted”, Vanguard quotes a member of Atiku’s legal team as saying.

Atiku’s decision to discontinue his fresh application comes as a significant development in the aftermath of the presidential election, which was widely contested by opposition parties.