At
last, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the
February 23 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his party, yesterday completed
the process of filing his petition against the victory of President Muhammadu
Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Atiku filed the petition, 19
days after the declaration of Buhari by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC).
Atiku and his party are challenging the election of Buhari
and APC on the grounds of alleged massive riggings, malpractices and
non-compliance substantially with the electoral laws. In the petition filed
last night, Atiku is praying that he be declared winner of the February 23
presidential election.
In
the alternative, the two petitioners prayed the Presidential Election Petition
Tribunal (PEPT) to nullify the poll and ordered for a fresh election that will
be conducted in lines with provisions of the electoral laws. Respondents in the
suit are Buhari, APC and INEC.Although a copy of the petition, which came in
several bulky volumes, cannot be obtained as at the time of filing this report,
the National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Emmanuel Enoidem, confirmed to
journalists at the Court of Appeal, venue of the PEPT, that the petition has
been filled. Enoidem said that the PDP and its presidential candidate have
already assembled a powerful legal team, comprising 20 Senior Advocates of
Nigeria (SANs) and other retinue of lawyers who will establish the fact of the
petition.
He
disclosed that over 400 witnesses have been assembled to testify during the
hearing of the petition. On the order earlier granted to Atiku to inspect
materials, he said that the inspection is being carried out from the polling
units across the country. According to him, “We are here to present our joint
petition for our party, the PDP and candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. “The
petition is against the APC, President Muhammadu Buhari and INEC.
“The
last day for filing the petition was actually tomorrow, but we decided to file
today. “We asked that our candidate who won the election massively across the
country be declared the winner of that election. “In the alternative, we also
asked that the election be set aside on the grounds of irregularities which
were very apparent across the country. “We have a pool of 20 SANs who are
tested in election petition matters and other senior lawyers who are also
working with them. “So we are very ready for the petition. The petition is well
packaged. “The depositions are well put together. More than 400 witnesses are
going to testify in this petition. Nigerians are at home with what happened on
February 23 in this country, the sham they called election. “Of course, we are
going to re-present the facts to Nigerians as the facts are already in the
domain of Nigerians. We are not going to manufacture facts. “No one can do all
the inspection at the same time. We have party organs, agents in all of these
states, we have party leaders. “Those agents that we trained have done their
best. We have got information from them and put together in that we presented
in this petition.”
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