Presidential Tribunal Delivers Final Judgment On Atiku vs Buhari

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, September 11, dismissed the petition challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 Presidential election.

YaahooJournalist reports that the tribunal at its sitting on Wednesday said the petition filed by Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lacked merit.

The lead judge, Justice Mohammed Garba said Atiku and PDP failed to provide enough evidence to support the claims in the petition including those bothered on electoral malpractices.

“I have come to the conclusion that the petitioners have not proved any of the grounds in paragraph 15 as required. For failure of this, this petition is hereby dismissed in its entirety,” Justice Garba said.

YaahooJournalist recalls that Atiku, a former Nigerian Vice President, had approached the tribunal to challenge the victory of President Buhari who was declared the winner of the Presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Among the grounds of Atiku’s petition was that President Buhari was not qualified to contest for president and that he gathered more votes than the APC candidate.

However, the tribunal said Buhari was “eminently qualified” to contest the presidential election.

The tribunal also ruled that the petitioners failed to prove there were electoral malpractices in the election.

It also said they failed to establish that electoral officials were harassed and that any such harassment influenced the outcome of the election.

Atiku had alleged that results from INEC’s server showed he garnered more votes than Buhari but the tribunal dismissed this claim as well.

“It is my view that whatever results you claim to have gotten belong to a whistle-blower,” Justice Garba said.

“It is possible to use scientific method to alter data on a website. Therefore, the petitioner relied on information from a third party (and) the evidence is unreliable because it is hearsay and inadmissible.”