The presidential election tribunal yesterday dismissed Abubakar Atiku’s petition, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The court’s decision made Nigeria, West Africa’s most populous nation yesterday to witness a monumental political event.
Recall the country held its general election on February 25, 2023 which led to a long and contentious legal battle instituted by aggrieved parties.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), oversaw the process and consequently announced the winner on March 1, 2023.
Candidates who disagreed with INEC’s declaration approached the court seeking various reliefs.
Atiku’s petition
Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), polled a total of 6,984,520 in the 2023 presidential election.
Peter Obi: Things to take note from the tribunal decision.
Atiku convened a team of 20 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) to file a petition against the declaration of Tinubu.
In his petition, he challenged Tinubu’s victory and prayed the court to nullify the result and reinstate him as the duly elected president of the country.
He filed a petition marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023, seeking the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that INEC had issued to Tinubu.
He also maintained that the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election was “invalid because of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022”.
Atiku, through his team of lawyers led by Mr. Joe Kyari Gadzama, SAN, presented various witnesses to support their argument.
Equally, Atiku also alleged that the president in case No: 93C 4483 was convicted and fined the sum of $460,000.00 at the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, for an offence involving dishonesty and drug trafficking.
The tribunal consisted of five justices led by Justice Haruna Tsammani. Others are;Justice Stephen Adah, Justice Monsurat Bolaji-Yusuf, Justice Moses Ugo, and Justice Abba Mohammed.
Hearing in the matter began on May 30,2023.
After calling 27 witnesses and tendering various electoral documents which were admitted as evidence, Atiku closed his case on June 23.
Court’s decision
Yesterday, the PEPC, with one of the judges declaring it “unmeritorious” concluded the 5-month-long litigation by striking out Atiku’s petition.
Justice Tsammani said, “This petition accordingly lacks merit. I affirm the return of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The parties are to bear their cost.”
The court also struck out the Atiku’s petition on Tinubu’s dual citizenship, conviction and disqualification as the winner of the poll.
The panel also disqualified some of Atiku’s witnesses because they did not file their witness statement on oath along with the petition.
The court also erased 37 exhibits tendered by the witnesses from the court’s records.
