Presidential Election: Supreme Court explains why it dismissed Atiku, PDP’s case

 

• says Buhari does not need certificate to be president

The Supreme Court has explained that it dismissed the case of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because they were not able to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had a server and that it transmitted election results electronically.

The apex court stated this while giving its reasons for dismissing the appeal by the PDP and Atiku.

The court held that the PDP and Atiku were wrong to have relied on results to get from a website: www.factsdontlieng.co., whose owner they could not establish, to claim to have won the election.

Justice Inyang Okoro, the lead judge, said, “I agree entirely with the court below that the appellants failed to prove that INEC has the server from which they got their figures.

“As a result, all the results, calculations, and analysis based on the results claimed are of no moment.”

The court resolved issue 3 against the appellant.

The apex court also resolved issue 4 against irregularity and corrupt practices against the appellants.

The 5th issue was also resolved against the appellant, which relates to the admission of some documents tendered by the respondents to the petition before the lower court.

The Supreme Court proceeded to dismiss the appeal after resolving all the five issues determined against the appellants.

The Supreme Court also held that President Muhammadu Buhari was right not to have submitted his academic credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The apex court stated this while giving a reason for dismissing the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

According to the court, Buhari was eminently qualified to contest the last presidential election.

The court held that contrary to claim by the appellants, no law requires a candidate to submit his/her academic certificates to the electoral umpire before being allowed to contest the election.

The Supreme Court also held that the constitution does not require one to possess a secondary school certificate to be qualified to run for the presidency.

It added that schooling up to secondary school, without possessing the result of the final examination was sufficient.

The Supreme Court further explained that Buhari did not only show that he has a secondary certificate and rose to the rank of Major General in the Army, attended military training, became the nation’s Head of State, could communicate in English and possessed a primary school leaving certificate, all to the satisfaction of INEC.

The three-man panel of the court upheld the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, on the issues of Buhari’s qualification and possession of relevant certificates.

The apex court resolved issues 1 and 2 against the PDP and Atiku.