During the proceedings of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal led by Mohammed Garba, on Wednesday, a lot of issues were treated.
On the issue of Buhari’s certificate, the tribunal ruled that President Buhari is qualified to contest the election stating that Buhari’s certificate from the Nigeria military is higher than the Secondary School Certificate stated as a minimum academic requirement for the election by the constitution.
On the issue of INEC Server, it ruled that the manual provided by INEC made no room for the electronic transmission of the results; and that smart card cannot take the place of the voters’ register until amendments are made to the Electoral Act to that effect.
The panel said that Atiku failed to call relevant witnesses, who could have enriched and added value to his petition.
The tribunal said that the former Vice President of Nigeria called ward collation agents instead of polling units agents and that the panel could not rely on the account of hearsay, which formed the fulcrum of the statement of the witnesses he brought forward.
Chairman of the tribunal dismissed the allegation that the INEC and APC connived with the military authorities and other security agents to manipulate and influence the outcome of the election in favour of President Buhari.
He said that the allegations of misconduct by the military linking them to corrupt practices and non-compliance with electoral act could not be substantiated.
Garba also held that the petitioner could not bring forward anybody among those he claimed were arrested to testify.
The panel added that the evidence available before it could not support that claim and make it to invalidate the presidential election.
The panel therefore dismissed the petition and affirmed President Buhari’s victory at the poll.
Atiku and PDP rejected the judgement and stated that they will appeal to the Supreme Court.
APC Leader, Adams Oshiomhole, on Thursday, mocked the PDP, saying that the Supreme Court would merely adopt the judgment of the tribunal, since the opposition really had no evidence to substantiate its petition.
It is now clear that Atiku and his lawyers will go back to the drawing board to make corrections on where they failed in the tribunal in order to come out with a better presentation at the Supreme Court, while also hoping that the Supreme Court will see things in a different light.
