Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party
\n(PDP) have asked to be declared winner of the 2019 presidential election
\nthat held on February 23.<\/p>\n
Mr Abubakar and his party made this demand in a 43-page final address
\nfiled through their lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu, before the presidential
\nelection tribunal on August 14.<\/p>\n
The petitioners also said they had proven their claim that President
\nMuhammadu Buhari did not have the minimum academic qualification of a
\nsecondary school certificate to contest the election.<\/p>\n
Mr Buhari\u2019s qualification is one of the arguments put forward by the PDP
\nin their petition before the tribunal on March 28, to challenge the
\nvictory of Mr Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the
\npoll.<\/p>\n
The nation\u2019s electoral umpire had declared Mr Buhari winner of the
\nelection having scored majority of the votes.<\/p>\n
But Mr Abubakar and his party accused the Independent National Electoral
\nCommission (INEC) of colluding with the ruling party to rig the poll in
\nfavour of the APC.<\/p>\n
According to Mr Abubakar, his party won the elections with over 1
\nmillion votes.<\/p>\n
They also allege electoral irregularities allegedly perpetrated by INEC
\nand security agencies in support of Mr Buhari and APC.<\/p>\n
The tribunal had on August 1 adjourned till August 21 for the adoption
\nof final addresses by parties shortly after the respondents closed their
\ndefence against the petition of Mr Abubakar and PDP.<\/p>\n
Proving their case, the petitioners had called in 62 witnesses and
\ntendered documents, including video evidence to prove their claims.<\/p>\n
While Mr Buhari as the second respondent in the petition called in only
\nseven witnesses and tendered few documents in defence of his victory,
\nINEC and the APC said they would be relying on the testimonies made by
\nthe petitioners\u2019 witnesses during their cross-examination.<\/p>\n
However, Mr Abubakar and the PDP in the final address, asked the
\ntribunal to nullify the election of Mr Buhari since they have been able
\nto prove the fact that he was not qualified to run in the first place.<\/p>\n
Besides, they said they had proved all allegations contained in their
\npetition against the conduct of the presidential election by the INEC.<\/p>\n
According to them, five major issues for determination by the
\nfive-member tribunal, led by Mohammed Garba, include whether Mr Buhari
\nat the time of the election was qualified to contest the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether Buhari submitted to INEC affidavit containing false information
\nof fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether from the pleadings and evidence led it was established that
\nBuhari was duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the
\nelection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether the presidential election conducted by INEC on February 23 was
\ninvalid by reason of corrupt practices; and<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether the presidential election conducted by INEC on February 23 was
\ninvalid by reason of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2010 as
\namended, the Electoral Guidelines 2019 and manuals issued for the
\nconduct of the election,\u201d they said in the filing seen by PREMIUM TIMES
\non Friday.<\/p>\n
The petitioners said even the witnesses Mr Buhari presented to defend
\nhim, under cross examination, admitted to the fact that the president
\ndid not possess a school certificate, being the basic requirements for
\ncontesting for the office of the president.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe, therefore, submit that all the purported evidence led by the second
\nrespondent (Buhari) to prove that he attended a secondary school or a
\nprimary school or that he attended some courses is irrelevant because he
\ndid not rely on any of those purported qualifications in exhibit P1, he
\nrelied on primary school certificate, WASC and Officer Cadet.<\/p>\n
\u201cEqually futile is his attempt to prove that he can speak and write in
\nthe English language. That is all irrelevant to his inability to produce
\nhis primary school certificate, secondary school certificate or WASC and
\nhis Officer Cadet qualification, whatever that means. Officer Cadet is
\nnot a qualification or certificate under the constitution and Electoral
\nAct; nor is it known to any law,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Certificate tendered<\/p>\n
On the supposed Cambridge University certificate tendered by Mr Buhari,
\nthe petitioners asked why \u201cit was easier for Buhari to go all the way to
\nCambridge in the United Kingdom to obtain a bogus documents that his own
\nwitnesses said was not a certificate, instead of just driving down the
\nstreet in Abuja to the Army Headquarters or placing a phone call to the
\nSecretary of the Military Board in Abuja to hurry over with his
\ncertificate or certificates.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also submitted that, \u201ca comparison of the purported Cambridge
\nAssessment International Education Certifying Statement of the purported
\nWest African Examination Council (WAEC) certificate and a certified true
\ncopy of the purported confidential result sheet of the University of
\nCambridge West African School Certificate of 1961 for the Provincial
\nSecondary School, Katsina reveals many discrepancies in the supposed
\nresult.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne listed eight subjects that the candidate therein mentioned one
\n\u2018Mohammed Buhari\u2019 allegedly sat for, the other six subjects; both
\ndocuments are therefore unreliable as both cannot be correct. The
\ncontradiction must count against the second respondent.<\/p>\n
Another claim by the resident, according to the petitioners, is that he
\nattended \u201cElementary School, Daura and Mai Aduwa 1948-52.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also claimed he entered Middle School, Katsina in 1953.<\/p>\n
However, the petitioners said by 1953, the Middle School system had been
\nabolished in the Northern Region of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
On the claim that his certificates were with the military, the
\npetitioners said Mr Buhari failed woefully to prove the claim, \u201crather
\nthe petitioners\u2019 evidence to the contrary was not contested nor
\nchallenged.\u201d<\/p>\n
They also argued that they have successfully proven that the Nigerian
\nArmy had denied being in possession of Mr Buhari\u2019s alleged certificates.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the strongest evidence on the issue was given by the second
\nrespondent\u2019s own witness, RW1, General Paul Tarfa (rtd), who under
\ncross-examination by the first respondent (INEC), told the court firmly
\nand unequivocally that the Army did not collect the certificates of
\nmilitary officers and added, \u2018there was no such thing,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Controversy over declared result<\/p>\n
On the issue of rigging and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the
\npetitioners said with the plethora of evidence tendered and witnesses
\ncalled, they had been able to show to the tribunal that Mr Buhari\u2019s
\nelection was invalid.<\/p>\n
They added that an analysis of results from 11 states showed how INEC in
\nconnivance with Mr Buhari and the APC wrongly and unlawfully credited
\nhim with votes not valid or lawful.<\/p>\n
According to them, documents tendered before the tribunal showed huge
\ndiscrepancies between collated results as contained in the tendered
\nCertified True Copies of forms EC8A and polling units.<\/p>\n
They further alleged that a total of 2, 906,384 votes were cancelled
\nacross the country, while 2, 698,773 Nigerians were disenfranchised.<\/p>\n
They said the two figures when added exceeded the 3, 928,869
\ndifferential between the votes as stated in INEC form EC8E.<\/p>\n
In addition, they said they had put forward evidence to show that INEC
\nviolated its own regulations and guidelines with respect to mandatory
\nuse of the smart card reader in the process of accreditation, which
\naccording to them occasioned over voting thereby rendering the election
\nnull and void.<\/p>\n
Courtesy: Premium Times<\/p>\n
They therefore prayed the tribunal to grant all the reliefs sought in
\ntheir petition.<\/p>\n
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have asked to be declared winner of the 2019 presidential election that held on February 23. Mr Abubakar and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n