The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate in the February election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have filed before the Supreme Court an appeal against the September 11, 2019 judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
The tribunal had dismissed their petition and affirmed President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory at the disputed poll.
The appeal with 66 grounds was filed on Monday.
They stated, “Evidence was led by the appellants to show that the 2nd respondent (Buhari) does not possess the certificates he listed in Form CF001.
“The appellants, having established that the 2nd respondent does not have the certificates to attach to his Form CF001, the burden of proof shifted to the 2nd respondent to prove, in accordance with the mandatory requirement of Form CF001, the schools he attended and attach the certificates obtained to authenticate that claim, which burden the 2nd respondent failed to discharge.
“The evidence of RW1 and RW2 and the contents of the 2nd respondent’s CV are not substitutes for the documentary evidence of the qualifying certificates.
They added, “The 2nd respondent, who had claimed on oath that he possessed the certificates for primary school, secondary school and “officer cadet” in part C of Form CF001 was shown not to have those certificates, and the 2nd respondent was not able to produce the said certificates.
“The lower court was wrong to equate the 2nd respondent’s attendance of primary school, secondary school, and officer cadet course, for the representation of the 2nd respondent that he possesses these certificates.
“The lower court was wrong to infer that the 2nd respondent handed over his certificates to the secretary, Military Board, at any time whatsoever.”
They also argued, among others, that the tribunal erred in law “by descending into the arena when they made use of evidence never pleaded/led at the trial by any of the respondents and sometimes credited statements to the petitioners’ witnesses which were never made.”
The five-man bench led by Justice Mohammed Garba unanimously dismissed the case for lacking in merit after resolving all the five issues raised in the case against the petitioners.
But in their 66 grounds notice of appeal, the appellants, through their lead counsel, Dr Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), maintained that the tribunal’s judgment “is against the weight of evidence”.
The appellants urged the Supreme Court to “set aside” the tribunal’s judgment and grant the prayers contained in their petition, which included the declaration of the PDP and Atiku as the winner of the presidential election.
As their alternative prayer, the urged the apex court to declare that “the election to the office of the President of Nigeria held or conducted by the 1st respondent (INEC) on February 23, 2019 be nullified and a fresh election ordered”.
