Summary Of Final Presidential Tribunal Ruling On Atiku vs Buhari So Far

A final judgment has been delivered on nine petitions brought before Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on the 2019 Presidential election involving President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

YaahooJournalist recalls that President Buhari who participated in the election on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the winner of the February 23 Presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

INEC had said figures from the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) gave Buhari 15,191,847 votes, while Atiku came second with 11,262,978 votes.

Atiku, however, challenged the results at the election tribunal in his 139-page petition, saying that the results from the INEC server showed he polled 18,356,732 votes to defeat Buhari who had 16,741,430 votes.

On the other hand, INEC said it had no central server where election results were transmitted as claimed by the PDP and Abubakar.

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal at the resumption of proceedings today, delivered the final judgment on nine petitions presented before it by Buhari and APC as well as Atiku and PDP.

Below is the summary of the Presidential tribunal in Abuja…

1. The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed INEC’s claim that Atiku’s lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) is not a legal practitioner.
2. The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed INEC’s claim that Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s Vice President should have been joined in the suit alongside President Buhari.
3. The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal refused INEC’s request to strike out some of the witnesses of the PDP.
4. The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal refused INEC’s request to dismiss Atiku’s prayer seeking President Buhari’s disqualification from the 2019 Presidential election.
5. The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal struck out PDP’s argument that President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo used Federal government funds through TraderMoni to induce voters.
6. The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed President Buhari’s contention that Atiku was not qualified to file the petition challenging his election.
7. The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed PDP’s argument that security operatives rigged the 2019 Presidential election to favour President Buhari.
8. The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed President Buhari’s response challenging Atiku’s motion on alleged none use of card readers.
9. The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed PDP’s motion alleging abuse of court processes in APC’s applications.