Legal fireworks will resume on Wednesday at the Supreme Court in the hearing of the 66-grounds of appeal filed by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23, 2019 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his party against the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal which affirmed the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The hearing by the appeal, seeking to upturn the declaration of Buhari by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the poll will commence today at the apex court in full blast.
Although names of the panel members have not been made public for security reasons, it is believed that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad will lead the panel that will decide the fate of parties in the matter.
Atiku and PDP’s appeal is predicated on 66 grounds in which they urged the apex court to set aside the decision of the tribunal in its entirety on grounds that the tribunal erred in law in arriving at a conclusion that the petitioners failed to prove their case against the respondents, who are the INEC, Buhari and the All Progressive Congress (APC).
They hinged their case on grounds that Buhari lied on oath in his form CF. 001 submitted to INEC to aid his clearance for the presidential election and also alleged Irregularities and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act and Guidelines during the election.
The appellants, while claiming that the Justice Mohammed Garba led tribunal erred in law by holding that Buhari was eminently qualified to contest the election, accused the tribunal of descending into defending the cause of Buhari in the petition.
They specifically accused the Justices of the Court of Appeal who sat at the tribunal of making use of evidence never pleaded/led at the trial by any of the respondents and sometimes credited statements to the respondents’ witnesses which were never made.
They submitted that: “There was no evidence at the trial that schooling at the Military Training School was “higher than Secondary School Certificate Education.
“The 2nd Respondent or any of the Respondents for that matter did not lead evidence on the meaning of “Officer Cadet.
“The 2nd Respondent witness es, neither claimed nor led evidence that the 2nd Respondent was eminently qualified to contest.
“Contrary to the testimony of RW1 regarding the submission of his Certificates to the Army, the lower Court inferred that the 2nd Respondent “in fact submitted his Certificates to the Military.”
The appellants further argued that INEC did not lead evidence wherein it informed the Court that it was satisfied with the qualification of Buhari.
Also Buhari, according to them throughout the trial did not lead any evidence to show that he successfully went through Primary School, Secondary School and famous Military College(s) in the USA, UK and or India, whereas the lower Court assumed he did.
In ground one of the appeal, Atiku and PDP submitted that the Justices of the Court of Appeal erred in law when they relied on “overall interest of justice” to hold that Buhari’s documents were properly admitted in evidence.
According to the appellants, the said documents which bordered around his certificates were neither pleaded nor front-loaded.
On ground two, relating to the ruling of the tribunal that Buhari does not need to attach his certificates to his form CF 001, the appellants submitted that the tribunal gave restrictive interpretation to Section 76 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) in order to exclude Form CF001 from its provisions.
“The conduct of election by the 1st Respondent starts with the screening of candidates, they said “No candidate can be screened unless he completes Form CF001 (Exhibit P1).
“In Form CF001, under the column for “Schools Attended/Educational Qualification with dates”, there is the clear provision: “Attach evidence of all educational qualifications. Certificates are evidence of educational qualifications.
“The lower Court held that Buhari passed with credits in English Language, Geography, History, Health Science, Hausa and a pass in English Literature in 1961 by inference when there was no evidence throughout the trial and indeed no evidence from the School Principal to the effect that the 2nd Respondent wrote or actually passed those subjects”, they argued. – Tribune.
