By Gideon Njoku
After an over eight-hour gruelling judgement, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal dealt a deadly blow to the Petition filed by the PDP and its Presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku, challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the November 23 Presidential poll.
The members unanimously dismissed the petition on all grounds, asking both parties to bear the cost of their legal fees. The Petitioners’ legal team, it submitted, did not do their homework thoroughly, and did not expect the Tribunal to do it for them.
For the Petitioners, it was an anti-climax to a very high expectation. They had exuded infectious confidence.
But the two main planks on which they based their petition – Buhari’s qualification to contest the election, and the use of the INEC Server – fell like a pack of cards before their Lordships.
Having risen in the Military to the rank of a Major General, Buhari’s qualification was not in doubt, and higher than a WAEC certificate which, constitutionally, is the minimum qualification.
Said the Chairman of the Appeal Tribunal, “Buhari is not only qualified, but is eminently qualified”
On the INEC Server, the Tribunal ruled that the Petitioners were unable to prove that INEC made use of a central Server.
Details, later…
