Tribunal strikes out Atiku’s petition

On Wednesday, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Abubakar Atiku was dealt a serious judicial setback in his attempt to replace Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President of Nigeria.

This is because the petition he relied on to get rid of Tinubu was partially dismissed by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

The Tribunal also rejected and disregarded a number of materials, including statements from witnesses, that he had submitted in support of his claims of irregularities and malpractices in the February 25 presidential election.

Justice Moses Ugoh ruled on various concerns brought forth by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN on behalf of Tinubu and found that certain portions of Atiku’s petition lacked the necessary competence.

Similar to what happened to Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Atiku’s appeal was dismissed because he failed to disclose key crucial facts.

Atiku was accused of not naming locations where ballot boxes were stolen, details about how the BVAS machine was allegedly controlled, and the names of polling stations where irregularities were allegedly committed.

Although the petitioner claimed to have received a majority of valid votes, he was accused of not specifying how many valid votes he had received.

Atiku claimed in his plea to the Tribunal that Tinubu did not receive a majority of legitimate votes, but he did not specify which votes he believed to be valid.

The Tribunal also found that the former Vice President had made serious claims against Yahaya Bello, Governor of Kogi State, and Friday Adejoh, Chairman of Olamaboro Local Government of Kogi, but had failed to name them as respondents in the case.

Since the Governor was not given the chance to defend himself in court, Justice Ugoh ruled that the petition failed. The Governor was accused of electoral fraud.

Because the petitioner did not specify the locations where the claimed overvoting occurred, the Tribunal ruled that his claim that it occurred throughout Nigeria was without merit.

It was also argued that Atiku’s petition was flawed since it unfairly and deceptively introduced a number of facts and charges in manners that caught the respondents by surprise.

Atiku’s accusations of criminal conviction, certificate fraud, and dual citizenship of Guinea against Tinubu outside the method of filing petition were cited as examples of the offensive new facts.

Another judgement on objections to the petition was read by Justice Stephen Jonah Adah, who erased various documents supplied by Atiku on the grounds that the exhibits were made during the pendency of the petition.

In addition, the court records no longer include testimony from numerous of Atiku’s key witnesses because it was presented in a way that was not permitted by law.

The Tribunal found that certain portions of the petition were strikeable for lack of merit due to the PDP presidential candidate’s improper formulation of the petition.