Presidential Tribunal: Security Beefed Up At Appeal Court As It Gets Set To Deliver Judgement Between Buhari And Atiku

 

Security was beefed up on Wednesday within the vicinity of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal delivers judgment in the petition filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar challenging president Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the Feb. 23 general election.

 

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that security personnel comprising mainly men of the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps mounted security checks at both ends of the stretch of the road to the court.

 

NAN reports that lawyers and journalists who arrived the court premises located in the Three Arms Zone, were subjected to checks by security personnel.

 

NAN reports that tribunal on Aug.21 reserved judgment in the petition after parties adopted their addresses.

 

Justice Mohammed Garba, Chairman of the five-man panel of justices had stated that the judgment date would be communicated to parties.

 

NAN reports that the president was declared the winner of the election after scoring 15,191,847 votes as against Atiku’s 11, 262,978 votes.

 

While adopting his address, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Counsel for Buhari, had described the petition as a sham as it lacked substance and merit.

 

“Apart from the hype the matter has generated, there is nothing in law to support the allegations before the tribunal, Olanipekun said.

 

On the qualification of the president, Olanipekun said Section 131 (b) had settled that matter.

 

“The laws only mandate any person contesting election in the country to have gone to school up to Secondary School level,’’ he said.

 

On the issue of election results transmission by electronic means, the counsel said the use of such technology must be provided for in the Electoral Act.

 

“This petition is liable to be dismissed with a considerable cost’’, Olanipekun said.

 

On his part, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, Counsel for All Progressive Congress (APC) said he could not help but take the liberty to align himself with the submissions made Olanipekun.

 

“I feel sad that this matter has been starved of evidence and therefore deserves to be dismissed,’’ Fagbemi said.

 

Also, Mr Yunus Usman, SAN, Counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) urged the panel to uphold all of its objections raised against the admissibility of all pieces of documentary and oral evidence led by the petitioners.

 

Usman submitted that the electoral body conducted the Feb.23 presidential election in total compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

 

He also urged the panel to disregard the petitioners’ claims that the results of the election were transmitted electronically to a central server managed by INEC, adding that it was the “greatest lie of the century’’.

 

He submitted that it was laughable when the petitioners made pleadings that suggested that only the PDP and APC and their candidates contested the election.

 

Usman prayed the tribunal to take judicial notice of the fact that the Electoral Act 2010 prohibited the transmission of election results electronically.

 

According to him, the law only provides for manual transmission of election results.

 

Usman said that all the witnesses presented by the petitioners admitted to the fact that transmission of election results electronically had no placed in the country’s statute books at the moment.

 

In countering allegations that INEC abandoned its pleadings by not presenting witnesses, the counsel said the commission simply extracted salient pieces of evidence from the petitioners’ pleadings to solidify its defence.

“It would have amounted to wasting the time of the tribunal for us to call witnesses when the petitioners could not discharge the burden of proof on allegations they had made,’’ he said.

 

Usman thereafter prayed the court to dismiss the petition for lack of merit.

 

Meanwhile, Dr Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, Counsel for the petitioners urged the tribunal to discountenance the addresses of the respondents, adding that the petitioners had indeed discharged the burden of proof.

 

He said the tribunal must exercise its powers in good conscience to uphold the petition and return Abubakar as president.

 

Uzoukwu further said the second respondent (Buhari) was unable to present his Secondary School Certificate before the tribunal in order to rest the allegation.

 

On the issue of server, Uzoukwu said INEC had operated, activated and stored the Feb.23 election results in a centrally controlled server.

 

NAN reports that the tribunal would have to rule on all pending interlocutory applications filed by parties before delivering judgment on the main appeal.

 

(NAN)