Atiku queries Buhari’s qualification

HIGHLIGHTS of issues raised in the 141-page petition submitted at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar have been revealed.

A copy of the petition sighted in Abuja on Tuesday, revealed among others, that it was premised on five grounds, which particularly attacked the validity of the election and its outcome, as well as President Muhammadu Buhari’s qualification.

The PDP and Atiku are, by their petition, challenging the victory of incumbent President and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Buhari in the election.

The petitioners want the tribunal to either declare them the winner or cancel the election result and order fresh presidential election.

Listed as respondents are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Buhari and the APC.

The grounds upon which the petition is based include: that “the second respondent (Buhari) was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election,” and that “the election of the 2nd respondent is invalid by reason of corrupt practices.”

Other grounds are that “the election of the 2nd respondent is invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended)” and that “the 2nd respondent was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the said election.

The petitioners are also contending that “the 2nd respondent submitted to the 1st respondent (INEC) an affidavit containing false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election.”

They (petitioners) state that the 2nd Respondent was not duly elected by a majority of the lawful votes cast at the said presidential election and did not score one-quarter of the lawful votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

In arguing that Buhari was not duly elected, the petitioners state that contrary to the result declared by INEC, it was Atiku, who indeed won majority of lawful votes cast and satisfied the mandatory constitutional threshold and spread across the Federation and ought to have been declared winner and returned as duly elected President.