The Peoples Democratic Party PDP has said that its candidate
in the February 23rd presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, beat its main
contender and incumbent, President Buhari, by 1.6 million votes. Punch reports
that the party stated this in a petition it filed before the Presidential
Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja on Monday March 18th.
INEC had on February 27, 2019 declared that Buhari won the
election with 15,191,847 votes to defeat Atiku, whom it said polled 11,262,978
votes.
However, the party's petiton stated that “from the data in
the 1st respondent’s (INEC’s) server…the true, actual and correct results” from
“state to state computation” showed that Atiku polled a total of 18,356,732
votes to defeat Buhari whom they said scored 16,741,430 votes''.
The opposition party said the results were the total votes
scored by the candidates in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja,
as there was “no report on sever” about the results from Rivers State as of
February 25, 2019.
By this, Atiku claims to have defeated Buhari with 1,615,302
votes.
The five grounds of the petition reads
“The 2nd respondent (Buhari) was not duly elected by the
majority of lawful votes cast at the election. The election of the 2nd
respondent is invalid by reason of corrupt practices. The election of the 2nd
Respondent is invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the
Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended). The 2nd respondent was at the time of the
election not qualified to contest the said election.
“The 2nd respondent submitted to the 1st Respondent an
affidavit containing false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his
qualification for the said election.”
On the grounds that President Buhari isn't qualified to run
for the seat of president, the party said
“The 2nd respondent (Buhari) does not possess the
educational qualification to contest the election to the office of the
President of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The petitioners state that by Section 31 (1) of the
Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), every political party shall not later than 60
days before the date appointed for a general election submit to the Commission
in the prescribed form the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor
at the elections.
“Further, by Section 31(2) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as
amended), the list or information submitted by each candidate shall be
accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the candidate at the Federal High
Court, High Court of a State or Federal Capital Territory indicating that he
has fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for election into that
office.
“The 2nd respondent filled and submitted Form CF001 to the
1st Respondent, which was declared before the Commissioner for Oaths at the
Registry of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on the 8th
day of October, 2018. The said Form CF001 is accompanied by an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
indicating that the 1st Respondent received same.
“The petitioners aver that the said Form CF001 filled by the
2nd Respondent and submitted to the 1st Respondent for the Office of President
was also accompanied by the Curriculum Vitae of the 2nd Respondent as well as
GENERAL FORM OF AFFIDAVIT duly sworn to by the 2nd respondent at the High Court
of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, along with copies of his Membership
Card of the 3rd Respondent and Voter Card.
“The information submitted to the 1st respondent (INEC) by
the 2nd respondent (Buhari) is false and of a fundamental nature in aid of his
education qualification, notwithstanding that he had declared in the said sworn
affidavit as follows: ‘I hereby declare that all the answers, facts and
particulars I have given in this Form, are true and correct and I have to the
best of my knowledge, fulfilled all the requirements for qualifications for the
office I am seeking to be elected’.”
The party argued that the educational institutions President
Buhari claimed to have attended and the certificates presented by him namely,
Elementary School Daura and Mai Aduaa between 1948 and 1952, Middle School
Katsina between 1953 and 1956 and Katsina Provincial College (now Government
College, Katsina) between 1956 to 1961 and mentioned by the 2nd respondent in
his curriculum vitae attached to Form CF 001, were not in existence as of those mentioned dates.”
Names of 21 Senior Advocates of Nigeria and 18 other lawyers
appeared on the petition.
The legal team is led by Mr Livy Uzoukwu (SAN).
They sought among their five main prayers, that the tribunal
should determine that Buhari “was not duly elected by a majority of lawful
votes cast in the said election” and therefore his declaration and return by
INEC “as the President of Nigeria is unlawful, undue, null, void and of no
effect”.
They also prayed that Atiku having been “duly and validly
elected” ought to be “returned as President of Nigeria, having polled the
highest number of lawful votes cast at the election to the office of the
President of Nigeria held on February 23, 2019 and having satisfied the
constitutional requirements for the said election.
They sought “an order directing the 1st respondent (INEC) to
issue a Certificate of Return to the 1st petitioner (Atiku) as the duly elected
President of Nigeria”.
They also asked the tribunal to rule that Buhari “was at the
time of the election not qualified to contest the said election”, and that he
“submitted to the Commission affidavit containing false information of a
fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election”.
However, they sought as their alternative prayer, “that the
election to the office of the President of Nigeria held on February 23, 2019 be
nullified and a fresh election ordered.”
The petitioners are relying on 50 sets of documents which
they, in the petition, gave INEC the notice to produce the original copies of
those in its custody.
Some of the documents are, “INEC Nomination Form CF001 of
the 2nd respondent (Buhari); all INEC result sheets;(Form EC8 Series), EC8A,
EC8B, EC8C, EC8D and EC8E – Certificate of Return; PDP Party Membership Cards;
INEC Voter Cards; all witnesses’ party membership cards; and all Witnesses’
Voter Cards.”
The petitioners also sought to rely on, “the
circulars/corrigenda/manuals issued by INEC for the conduct of the Presidential
Election held on 23/2/2019; Polling Unit materials checklist; summary of total
registered voters on units’ basis; summary of PVCs collected on units’ basis;
Voter Registers and letters of complaints over irregularities and malpractices
during the election addressed to the INEC/Police/other relevant
agencies/institutions.”
They also sought to rely on “security reports relating to
the election video/audio recordings/DVD/CD relating to the Election; Election
Observers’ or Observers’ Reports; Newspaper/Television/ Radio reports and news;
appointment letters and tags of PDP agents; expert reports and analysis; and
photographs and GSM and other phone outputs”.
