The presidential election petition tribunal has given its verdict in the petition brought by the PDP and Atiku Abubakar challenging the February 23 election
Mr Buhari was declared winner with 15,191,847 votes while Mr Abubakar came second with 11,262,978 votes.
The party also alleged massive non-compliance with election guidelines in a majority of the polling units.The PDP further challenged the emergence of Mr Buhari as a candidate for the elections on the grounds that he failed to meet educational qualifications to contest the election.According to section of the electoral act, a petition of this nature must be determined before the expiration of 180 days.
Following that objection by the petitioners, Mrs Bulkachuwa recused herself. This resulted in the emergence of Garba Mohammed as the chairman of the tribunal.Subsequently, on July 3, the PDP began its hearing and presented 62 witnesses to support its claim. The APC reacted to the deposition of the video evidence by producing a similar video clip where the INEC Chairman,The PDP had named INEC, Mr Buhari and the APC as respondents in the suit.The first respondent, namely INEC, questioned the validity of the PDP petition ”because it did not include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo whom INEC described as a necessary party to the matter”.
“It is the conclusion in the judgement that running mates to an election are not a necessary party,” the court ruled.The court also dismissed an application by INEC suggesting that the PDP petition was not properly attested to, by the lead counsel, Levi Uzoukwu.The five-member panel then decided against a submission by the APC that the claims concerning President Buhari’s certificate were pre-election in nature and should not have been raised as part of the PDP’s petition.
“I am of the opinion that whether it is Muhammadu Buhari with a U and Mohammed Buhari with an O, they relate to the same person,” the court ruledIn another application by INEC challenging the PDP’s failure to name the security operatives as parties to the election, the court ruled that INEC was right in submitting that the PDP ought to have included the security officers mentioned in the petition.
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