The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) computer server shows
\nthat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the February
\n23 election with about 1.6 million votes to defeat President Muhammadu
\nBuhari, the opposition candidate claims.<\/p>\n
This is contained in the petition filed on Monday by the PDP and Mr
\nAbubakar, to challenge the victory of Mr Buhari and his All Progressives
\nCongress (APC).<\/p>\n
The petition, which sought to rely on 50 sets of documents, was filed
\nbefore the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja against INEC,
\nMr Buhari and the APC respectively.<\/p>\n
On February 27, INEC declared that Mr Buhari won the election with
\n15,191,847 votes to defeat Mr Atiku, whom it said polled 11,262,978 votes.<\/p>\n
But the petitioners stated in their 139-page petition that \u201cfrom the data
\nin the 1st respondent\u2019s (INEC\u2019s) server\u2026the true, actual and correct
\nresults\u201d from \u201cstate to state computation\u201d showed that Mr Abubakar polled
\na total of 18,356,732 votes to defeat Mr Buhari whom they said scored
\n16,741,430 votes.<\/p>\n
According to it, the results were the total votes scored by the candidates
\nin 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, as there was \u201cno
\nreport on server\u201d about the results from Rivers State as of February 25.<\/p>\n
By this, Mr Abubakar claims to have defeated Mr Buhari with 1,615,302 votes.<\/p>\n
One of the five grounds of the petition also tends to resuscitate the
\nallegation that Mr Buhari was not qualified to run for the office of the
\npresident on the grounds that he did not possess the constitutional
\nminimum qualification of a school certificate.<\/p>\n
The five grounds of the petition read, \u201cThe 2nd respondent (Buhari) was
\nnot duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast at the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe election of the 2nd respondent is invalid by reason of corrupt
\npractices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe election of the 2nd Respondent is invalid by reason of non-compliance
\nwith the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2nd respondent was at the time of the election not qualified to
\ncontest the said election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2nd respondent submitted to the 1st Respondent an affidavit
\ncontaining false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his
\nqualification for the said election.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arguing that Mr Buhari was not qualified to run for the office of the
\npresident, the petitioners argued in part, \u201cThe petitioners state that the
\n2nd respondent (Buhari) does not possess the educational qualification to
\ncontest the election to the office of the President of Federal Republic of
\nNigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe petitioners state that by Section 31 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2010
\n(as amended), every political party shall not later than 60 days before
\nthe date appointed for a general election submit to the Commission in the
\nprescribed form the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor
\nat the elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther, by Section 31(2) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), the
\nlist or information submitted by each candidate shall be accompanied by an
\naffidavit sworn to by the candidate at the Federal High Court, High Court
\nof a State or Federal Capital Territory indicating that he has fulfilled
\nall the constitutional requirements for election into that office.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2nd respondent filled and submitted Form CF001 to the 1st Respondent,
\nwhich was declared before the Commissioner for Oaths at the Registry of
\nthe High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on the 8th day of
\nOctober 2018. The said Form CF001 is accompanied by an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
\nindicating that the 1st Respondent received same.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe petitioners aver that the said Form CF001 filled by the 2nd
\nRespondent and submitted to the 1st Respondent for the Office of President
\nwas also accompanied by the Curriculum Vitae of the 2nd Respondent as well
\nas GENERAL FORM OF AFFIDAVIT duly sworn to by the 2nd respondent at the
\nHigh Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, along with copies of
\nhis Membership Card of the 3rd Respondent and Voter Card.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe information submitted to the 1st respondent (INEC) by the 2nd
\nrespondent (Buhari) is false and of a fundamental nature in aid of his
\neducation qualification, notwithstanding that he had declared in the said
\nsworn affidavit as follows: \u2018I hereby declare that all the answers, facts
\nand particulars I have given in this Form, are true and correct and I have
\nto the best of my knowledge, fulfilled all the requirements for
\nqualifications for the office I am seeking to be elected\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
They stated that the educational institutions Buhari \u201cclaimed to have
\nattended and the certificates presented by him namely, Elementary School
\nDaura and Mai Aduaa between 1948 and 1952, Middle School Katsina between
\n1953 and 1956 and Katsina Provincial College (now Government College,
\nKatsina) between 1956 to 1961 and mentioned by the 2nd respondent in his
\ncurriculum vitae attached to Form CF 001, were not in existence as of
\nthose mentioned dates.\u201d<\/p>\n
They added, \u201cThe 2nd respondent in Form CF 001 filled and submitted by him
\nto the 1st Respondent at Paragraph C, Column 2, Page 3, under SECONDARY,
\nwrote \u201cWASC,\u201d thereby falsely claiming that qualification whereas there
\nwas no qualification known as WASC as of 1961.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe petitioners contend that the 2nd Respondent was, at the material
\ntime, not qualified to contest election for the exalted office of
\nPresident of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe petitioners further aver that all votes purportedly cast for the 2nd
\nand 3rd Respondents on 23rd February 2019 during the Presidential Election
\nand as subsequently declared by the 1st Respondent on February 27, are
\nwasted votes in that the 2nd Respondent was not qualified to contest the
\nsaid election in the first place or at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
The petitioners named 21 Senior Advocates of Nigeria and 18 other lawyers
\nto appear for them during the petition.<\/p>\n
The legal team is led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Livy Uzoukwu.<\/p>\n
They sought among their five main prayers, that the tribunal should
\ndetermine that Mr Buhari \u201cwas not duly elected by a majority of lawful
\nvotes cast in the said election\u201d and therefore his declaration and return
\nby INEC \u201cas the President of Nigeria is unlawful, undue, null, void and of
\nno effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also prayed that Mr Abubakar having been \u201cduly and validly elected\u201d
\nought to be \u201creturned as President of Nigeria, having polled the highest
\nnumber of lawful votes cast at the election to the office of the President
\nof Nigeria held on February 23 and having satisfied the constitutional
\nrequirements for the said election.<\/p>\n
They sought \u201can order directing the 1st respondent (INEC) to issue a
\nCertificate of Return to the 1st petitioner (Atiku) as the duly elected
\nPresident of Nigeria\u201d.<\/p>\n
They also asked the tribunal to rule that Mr Buhari \u201cwas at the time of
\nthe election not qualified to contest the said election\u201d, and that he
\n\u201csubmitted to the Commission affidavit containing false information of a
\nfundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, they sought as their alternative prayer, \u201cthat the election to
\nthe office of the president of Nigeria held on February 23, be nullified
\nand a fresh election ordered.\u201d<\/p>\n
The petitioners are relying on 50 sets of documents which they, in the
\npetition, gave INEC the notice to produce the original copies of those in
\nits custody.<\/p>\n
Some of the documents are, \u201cINEC Nomination Form CF001 of the 2nd
\nrespondent (Buhari); all INEC result sheets;(Form EC8 Series), EC8A, EC8B,
\nEC8C, EC8D and EC8E \u2013 Certificate of Return; PDP Party Membership Cards;
\nINEC Voter Cards; all witnesses\u2019 party membership cards; and all
\nWitnesses\u2019 Voter Cards.\u201d<\/p>\n
The PDP and Mr Atiku in the petition also sought to rely on, \u201cthe
\ncirculars\/corrigenda\/manuals issued by INEC for the conduct of the
\nPresidential Election held on 23\/2\/2019; Polling Unit materials checklist;
\nsummary of total registered voters on units\u2019 basis; summary of PVCs
\ncollected on units\u2019 basis; Voter Registers and letters of complaints about
\nirregularities and malpractices during the election addressed to the
\nINEC\/Police\/other relevant agencies\/institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also sought to rely on \u201csecurity reports relating to the election
\nvideo\/audio recordings\/DVD\/CD relating to the Election; Election
\nObservers\u2019 or Observers\u2019 Reports; Newspaper\/Television\/ Radio reports and
\nnews; appointment letters and tags of PDP agents; expert reports and
\nanalysis; and photographs and GSM and other phone outputs\u201d.
\nCulled from Premium Times<\/p>\n
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) computer server shows that Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the February 23 election with about 1.6 million votes to defeat…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n