Presidential Tribunal dismisses Atiku’s petition against Buhari electoral misconduct

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has dismissed Atiku Abubakar’s petition against President Muhammadu Buhari over electoral misconduct.

The court held that the petitioners, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) failed to prove the allegations, as they were unable to bring their witnesses to testify in court.

The Tribunal held that Abubakar and the PDP did not present before it any evidence to show that the 2019 presidential election was not conducted in compliance to the Electoral Act.

Justice Garba Mohammed, reading the decision, noted a number of allegations brought forward by the petitioners to back their claim of massive non-compliance to electoral guidelines across the nation.

He said some of the issues raised include “non-holding of elections in some polling units, cancelation of results, over voting, inflation and deflation of votes among other things.

“The petitioners have a duty to prove all the allegations which are criminal in nature beyond reasonable doubt.

“The petitioners pleaded that so many of their agents were situated in various polling units and that members of the first respondents connived with security agents to conduct massive rigging.

“They also alleged that no real voting took place in Dekina Local Government Area, among others,” the judge said.

The judge, however, added that the PDP failed to call the polling unit agents who would have testified that they were arrested harassed or affected by the violence pictured by the petitioners.

“There is no admissible evidence on record to support the petitioner’s allegations,” the court ruled.

“Like I had mentioned, there is no admissible evidence to link the witnesses with the allegations of non-compliance to the electoral act or of corruption,” the Tribunal said.