The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday held that President Muhammadu Buhari was duly elected as the President of the Republic of Nigeria.
In the lead judgment which was delivered by Justice Garba Mohammed, the tribunal dismissed the petitions filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar against the election of Buhari in its entirety as they lacked merit.
Justice Mohammed held that evidence giving by the 62 witnesses called by the PDP and Atiku did not have any impact in helping the petitioners’ case, adding that the petitioners could not prove that Buhari was not duly elected.
He further added that Atiku and the PDP have no evidence of non-compliance to the electoral act by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Justice Mohammed also held that the only way to prove cases of over-voting, electoral manipulation, among others was to tender the voters’ register, which the petitioners could not provide and that all the witnesses called by the petitioners failed to establish cases of over-voting.
Earlier, the tribunal ruled that Buhari possessed the West African School Certificate Examination, WASCE, to contest the 2019 election as oposed to the claims alleged by the PDP and its candidate, Atiku, that Buhari possess WASCE.
This would have revoked the eligibity of the President to contest election, however the court held that asides being qualified, the president also obtained certificates to validate the claims that he is eminently qualified for the presidential role.