Tribunal Fixes Date To Hear Closing Arguments On Presidential Election Petition

The tribunal is set to hear closing arguments on the Presidential Election Petition.  

The date, August 21 has been fixed for parties in the case to present their closing arguments.

At the last sitting of the tribunal, the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and his party had insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari was not qualified to contest the February 23 poll and he should be disqualified by the Tribunal.

READ ALSO: Atiku, PDP Insist Buhari Not Qualified To Contest Presidential Election

In their final address to the tribunal, the petitioners claimed to have established the fact that President Buhari does not possess the requisite academic qualification for the position of President of Nigeria.

In the 43 page final address filed by their lead counsel, Dr Levy Uzoukwu SAN, Atiku and the PDP also said that even President Buhari’s own witnesses under cross-examination admitted to the fact that the President does not possess a school certificate, being the basic requirements for contesting for the position.

On the Cambridge University certificate tendered by President Buhari before the tribunal, the petitioners asked why, “it was easier for the President to go all the way to Cambridge in the United Kingdom to obtain what they call ‘a bogus document’, instead of just driving down the street in Abuja to the Army Headquarters or placing a phone call to the Secretary of the Military Board in Abuja to hurry over with his certificate or certificates”

On the claim that his certificates were with the military, the petitioners submitted that President Buhari failed woefully to prove the claim, as the petitioners’ evidence to the contrary was not contested nor challenged.

They also allege that they have successfully proved that the Nigerian Army had denied being in possession of President Buhari’s alleged certificates.

On the issue of rigging and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the petitioners said with the plethora of evidence tendered and witnesses called they have been able to show to the tribunal that President Buhari’s election was invalid.

They added that an analysis of results from 11 states showed how INEC in connivance with the President and the All Progressives Congress (APC) wrongly and unlawfully credited President Buhari with votes not valid or lawful.

In their own address, President Buhari and the APC, asked the tribunal to reject some of the testimonies from the witnesses called by the PDP.

The PDP had called 62 witnesses, while the APC presented seven.

The APC and its candidate asked the tribunal to reject testimonies from witnesses 40, 59 and 60, and to also remove 28,000 exhibits presented by the PDP which included certified-true copies of result sheets from 10 states where Buhari had won.