Presidential Election Tribunal Fixes Sept 11 To Rule On Petition Filed By Atiku

The presidential election tribunal has said that it will deliver judgement in the petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar on September 11, 2019.

All the parties in the suit had made their final submissions on August 21, when the tribunal declared that the date for the judgement will be communicated at a later date.

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The PDP and its candidate are seeking to nullify the election of President Muhammadu Buhari in the February 23 poll.

They insist that the election was marred by irregularities and are, therefore, asking the tribunal to declare Atiku as the duly elected president.

In the final address presented by his lead counsel, Dr Levy Uzuokwu, the PDP candidate drew the attention of the tribunal to a portion of the President’s INEC form where he claimed to have three different certificates; comprising primary school leaving certificate, WAEC certificate and an officers’ cadet certificate.

Atiku, therefore, asked the tribunal to nullify his election on the grounds that “he lied on oath to deceive Nigerians and to secure unlawful qualification for the election”.

He also faulted the claim of INEC that it had no central server.

The electoral body on the other hand, which was represented by Yunus Usman (SAN), urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition with substantial cost.

According to Usman, INEC conducted the election in total compliance with the Nigerian constitution and electoral act 2010.

Meanwhile, in his defence, President Buhari through his counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), argued that Atiku’s petition was liable to be dismissed because it is lacking in evidence, merit and substance and that the petition is ill-advised and signified nothing.

The APC represented by Mr Lateef Fagbemi, in his own submission said the petition lacked quality evidence that could warrant the nullification of the election as pleaded by the petitioners and therefore, urged the tribunal to throw out the petition.