The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja will on Wednesday (today) deliver judgment in the case instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, challenging the outcome of the February 23, 2019, presidential election.
The petitioners asked the five-man tribunal, led by Justice Mohammed Garba, to nullify President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory at the poll and either declare them the winner or order the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a rerun.
A senior member of the petitioners’ legal team, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), confirmed to one of our correspondents that the hearing notice for the judgment was served on lawyers representing the parties to the case on Tuesday.
“I can confirm to you that the judgment will be delivered at 9 am,” he said.
Ozekhome (SAN) expressed hope that his clients’ case would succeed.
He said, “My expectation, like the majority of Nigerians and international observers, is that the petition will succeed. This is because the petitioners have proved their case. The evidence was overwhelming and it was clear to everyone that the respondents had no defence. The judiciary will be courageous and bold to deliver justice.”
We expect victory, says APC
When contacted, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, said the party was expecting victory because the PDP’s petition lacked substance.
He said, “We are expecting nothing short of victory. The PDP only helped us to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt. Their petition turned out to be noise and lacks substance.
“We presented a certificate from Cambridge and WAEC which they could not fault. They couldn’t bring anything from Cambridge and WAEC to say what we presented was fake.
“The results they submitted upon which they wanted the court to award them victory were contradictory. They simply don’t have a case.”
We are hopeful Atiku’ll be the winner – PDP
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Diran Odeyemi, on Tuesday said the party members were of high hopes that the tribunal would declare Atiku as the winner of the election.
Odeyemi said, “We expect the judiciary as the last hope of the common man to dispense justice more so as Atiku has proved his case beyond any reasonable doubt and declare him the winner of the election.”