The defeated main opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Nigeria\u2019s presidential elections filed a legal challenge in March against the outcome of the presidential poll.<\/p>\n
Abubakar\u2019s petition states that he defeated the All Progressives Congress\u2019s Muhammadu Buhari, who was declared the winner of the eection.<\/p>\n
The petition asks that the electoral commission overturns the result \u201con the grounds of irregularities.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 141-page petition which contained five grounds, Atiku and his party People\u2019s Democratic Party are praying that they are declared the winner of the poll.<\/p>\n
The two petitioners prayed the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to nullify the poll and ordered for a fresh election that will be conducted in lines with provisions of the electoral laws.<\/p>\n
Here are the five grounds upon the petition is based:<\/p>\n
That Buhari was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast at the election
\nAbubakar alleged that \u201cfrom the data in the 1st respondent\u2019s (INEC\u2019s) server\u2026 the true, actual and correct results\u201d from \u201cstate to state computation\u201d showed that he polled a total of 18,356,732 votes to defeat Buhari whom they said scored 16,741,430 votes.<\/p>\n
By this, Abubakar claims to have defeated Buhari with 1,615,302 votes.<\/p>\n
The election of the Buhari is invalid by reason of corrupt practices
\nThe PDP candidate alleged that the presidential poll was marred with \u201ccorrupt practices\u201d before and during the poll.<\/p>\n
He said the electoral materials were compromised and mentioned the massive thumb-printing of ballot papers and manipulation of security agencies and militarisation of the election as means through which the ruling party influenced the election.<\/p>\n
The election of Buhari is invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).<\/p>\n
Abubakar said that election was cancelled in \u201cmany polling units\u201d in the country. He noted that through INEC declaration \u201c4,171 in number out of the 119,973 polling units in the country. The petitioners aver that the cancelled election covered 2,906,384 registered voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also, he said INEC ordered supplementary elections in 14 states, covering 2,341 polling units with 2,698,773 registered voters, which according to Abubakar \u201cdid not take place as prescribed by law\u201d.<\/p>\n
Abubakar, therefore, contended that if 2,906,384 cancelled votes are added to 2,698,773 voters who did not vote, the figure will stand at 5,605,157, which will exceed the figure of 3,928,869, which was the difference in the votes INEC announced to declare Buhari winner. Hence, Abubakar said INEC ought to have \u201cdeclared the February 23, 2019 Presidential election inconclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buhari was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the said election
\nAbubakar alleged that Buhari does not possess the educational qualification to contest the election to the office of the President and that Buhari submitted a \u201cstale general form of affidavit\u201d dated 24th November 2014 before High Court instead of \u201can Affidavit specifically sworn to in respect of the 2019 General Elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buhari submitted an affidavit containing false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election
\nAbubakar said Buhari in the \u201cstale general form of affidavit\u201d claimed that all his academic qualification documents are currently with the Secretary Military Board.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, \u201cthe Nigerian Military has since denied that it held or was in possession\u201d of Buhari\u2019s educational certificates.<\/p>\n
Abubakar also claimed that the Middle School Katsina and Katsina Provincial Secondary School which the Buhari claimed to have attended in his Curriculum Vitae between 1953 -1956 and 1956- 1961 respectively were at the material time, non- existent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The defeated main opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Nigeria\u2019s presidential elections filed a legal challenge in March against the outcome of the presidential poll. Abubakar\u2019s petition states that he defeated the All Progressives Congress\u2019s Muhammadu Buhari, who was declared the winner of the eection. The petition asks that the electoral commission overturns the result \u201con […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":1989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16],"tags":[316,97,251,345],"class_list":["post-9798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-atiku","tag-buhari","tag-inec","tag-law"],"yoast_head":"\n