Tribunal: Buhari's party failed to prove rigging
INEC can't be compelled to provide database
Presidency, PDP, Atiku hail judgment
CPC to appeal verdict
THE Presidential Election Petition Tribunal yesterday in Abuja put a judicial seal on the victory of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and his running mate, Namadi Sambo, at the April 16, 2011 polls, declaring that they were validly elected as President and Vice President in that order.
In a unanimous judgment delivered at the Court of Appeal amid heavy security, the five-man panel held that the April 16 Presidential election was conducted in substantial compliance with the 2010 Electoral Act and therefore declared it valid and unimpeachable.
However, the the petitioner, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), through its National Chairman, Prince Tony Momoh, who condemned the judgment, said it would challenge it at the Supreme Court even as he said his party would be trusting in providence for justice.
According to Momoh, "there are three judgments: the judgment of conscience, the judgment of the people and the judgment of God."
Malam Nasir el-Rufai, a CPC chieftain and a former FCT Minister, said: "We were not surprised since the Tribunal had ruled that INEC cannot be compelled to bring its data base. More so, the judgment had since been decided with the removal of Justice Ayo Salami. We believe that posterity is the ultimate judge and one day God will give judgment on each and every one of us."
But Jonathan who welcomed the judgment in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Dr. Reuben Abati, described it as a triumph for democracy and an affirmation of the sovereignty of the Nigerian people.
He praised the CPC and its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, for their respect for the rule of law and the Constitution, saying their recourse to judicial review of their grievances affirmed their faith in the nation's judiciary.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has advocated that future constitution amendment should take into cognizance the resolution of all election matters before swearing in elected public officers, particularly the President.
The former Vice President made the suggestion in a congratulatory message to President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja yesterday.
He hailed the verdict of the Presidential Election Tribunal, noting that it has paved the way for the delivery of the much-needed dividends of democracy by President Jonathan and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The panel held that CPC did not lead any shred of evidence to prove its claims that Jonathan was not validly elected on the premise that the said poll was marred with massive rigging and sundry electoral malpractices in breach of the Electoral Act 2010.
It said the panel could not place any substantial premium on the testimonies of the witnesses presented by CPC as they inundated the tribunal with contradictory evidence lacking in credibility. And it also held that CPC's petition suffered grave damage when its legal team applied to expunge the evidence of Momoh, from the records of proceedings owing to a mix-up by counsel.
The tribunal also expunged the allegations made against military officers and other security personnel by the CPC on the grounds that they were not parties before the tribunal.
It said there was a rebuttable presumption of regularity and fact that the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reflects the correct position at the polls and therefore the burden was on CPC to prove otherwise. It declared that CPC failed woefully to prove that INEC's result was falsified.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Kumai Bang Akaahs stated: "The onus of non-compliance lies with the petitioner to establish. It is after it has established non-compliance that the onus will shift to the respondents.
"A party seeking nullification of an election can only succeed on the strength of its own evidence before the court as allegations of non-compliance must be grave and substantial to affect the majority of votes cast.
"The law as it stands, the onus of proof rests on the shoulders of the petitioner to go ahead and prove that non- compliance substantially affected the outcome of the election.
"The petition can only succeed if it was established by the petitioner that some people where disenfranchised or he could have secured a number of votes and won the election if the process was not manipulated against him and his supporters.
"From whichever angle this petition is viewed at, the petitioner did not prove his case and discharge the burden of proof even on the balance of probability."
The Tribunal described as "unfounded" CPC's claim that Jonathan deployed soldiers to intimidate opponents and restrict movement in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as a ploy to tamper with election materials.
"I don't think that there was nothing illegal in deploying soldiers and other security personnel on the streets. I also think the restriction of movement was to ensure orderliness", Justice Akaahs stated.
The tribunal further held that the CPC petition was replete with allegations of criminality and corruption, which it has failed to prove beyond reasonable doubts adding, "if the allegations border on the commission of a crime, the burden falls on the petitioner to prove beyond reasonable doubts."
He explained that by law, INEC has no powers to release its bio-metric data base as doing so would expose the secrecy of the voters.
On allegations that excess ballot papers were printed by Tulip Press, a local company, and distributed to Bayelsa, Zamfara, Kwara, Sokoto and other states to inflate votes in favour of Jonathan, the Tribunal said the claims amounted to hearsay evidence, as there was no iota of evidence to support it.
The tribunal further held that no evidence were laid before the court to establish allegations of substantial non-compliance with the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act in all the 14 states where the petitioner is contesting the result of the presidential election.
The states are Abia, Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Jigawa, Nassarawa, Katsina, Taraba, Zamfara, FCT and Kaduna.
The Guardian