[size=14pt]Election Petition: Buhari in Surprise Visit to Tribunal[/size]
21 Oct 2011
By Tobi Soniyi

Contrary to his earlier position, the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), Thursday made a u-turn, appeared in court and eulogised his party’s challenge of the declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan as winner of the April 16 presidential election.

Buhari had publicly declared that he would not challenge the results of the election in court, but that his party could.

So in the spirit of his threat, when the CPC went to court, it did not list his name in its petition as one of the challengers of the results.

He had kept his distance from the premises of the tribunal and his appearance in court Thursday was not only a surprise to many political observers, but a political u-turn by the CPC flag bearer.

He came with his running mate, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Chairman of CPC, Prince Tony Momoh, and the party’s National Secretary, Alhaji Buba Galadima, among other party faithful.

But when he was spotted in court among his party loyalists, journalists confronted him with the issue and he replied that he was in court like any other member of CPC.

He said: “I have never distanced myself from the CPC petition. I am part of the party and subscribed to the petition. I have confidence in the judiciary. I have never said I don’t have confidence in the judiciary.”

Also speaking to journalists, the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Musa Babayo, said he had been so happy with the proceedings at the tribunal “except that the opponent overdramatized the situation”.

“Quite a number of times our opponent has overdramatized the situation in an attempt to achieve a predetermined political objective,” Babayo said.

Continuing, he noted that the presiding justice “reminded everybody in court that we do not have any other country except Nigeria. Each and every citizen of this country has a responsibility to pursue goals and actions and other strategies to protect our institutions. If you destroy our institutions, you are invariably destroying our country”.

In the same vein, the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, said after the court session: “We are confident that with the submissions of our counsel, who asked the court to dismiss the petition of CPC, that we would win the case.”
Meanwhile, the Presidential Election Tribunal has reserved judgment in the petition.

Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Kumai Akaahs, said the judgment would be delivered on a date to be communicated to the counsel.

Justice Akaahs thanked all the lawyers for their cooperation. He also advised politicians and journalists to be very cautious.

He said: “We must remember that there is no other country we can call our home other than Nigeria.”

The tribunal also pardoned CPC’s spokesman, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, who was alleged to have issued a contemptuous statement that maligned the integrity of the tribunal’s members.

“If money is what we are looking for, none of us will be here sitting as judge,” he said.

Before he was pardoned, Fashakin, through his lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, had apologised to the members of the tribunal.

While adopting his brief, counsel to Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), said: “We have referred to earlier ruling of this court on July 14, 2011, where the court struck out relief number six.”

Olanipekun said the tribunal had refused to grant relief six which asked for a conduct of a fresh presidential election between the CPC candidate, Buhari, and President Jonathan on the ground that Buhari was not a party to the petition.

He said that notwithstanding that the evidence had been taken on the petition, the hearing amounts to a mere academic exercise. He consequently urged the court to dismiss the petition which he noted had been abandoned against President Jonathan and his deputy.

In his submission before adopting his address, counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), said: “A party is supposed to rely on evidence presented before the court and also authorities cited. But in this case, the petitioners tendered evidence and documents that belong to INEC.

“These are documents that are meant to support INEC and its Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega’s position that the election was conducted in full compliance with the Electoral Act 2010.”

Against this backdrop, he asked the court to dismiss the petition.

Counsel to PDP, Chief Amaechi Nwaiwu (SAN), said outside the criminal allegation made, what was left could not sustain the petition and that the criminal allegation was on the basis of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
He asked the court to dismiss both the petition and the preliminary objection filed by CPC.

CPC’s counsel, Dipo Opeseyi (SAN), in his address asked the court to declare that the party won the April 16 presidential election because INEC failed to prove that Jonathan won the election.

He said that INEC did not lead evidence to disprove its (CPC) claim that Jonathan did not win the presidential election in 21 states.

CPC said that the implication of INEC not leading evidence in rebuttal of the allegation that Jonathan did not win the presidential election is that INEC had admitted the allegation.

The party said that if the votes for the 21 unchallenged states were aggregated, the result would show that the PDP scored 8,047,188, while CPC polled 9,611,215 and other political parties scored 7,233,117.

The party consequently “invited the tribunal to find in favour of the petitioner”.

CPC also said that INEC had woefully failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on it to show that its non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act did not substantially affect the result of the election.

The party also said that Jonathan and PDP who were the beneficiaries of the conduct of the election in violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act by INEC had equally failed to establish by credible evidence that the election in which they were victorious was conducted in accordance with law.

CPC went to court in May, asking the court to nullify the election of Jonathan on the grounds of substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010.

It also asked the court to set aside the presidential election of April 16, 2011 and organise a fresh election between the CPC and PDP.

The CPC also wanted the court to hold that Jonathan and Sambo of the PDP were not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast in the election.

The CPC stated that it would prove at the hearing that there was substantial variation in the voters’ register used by INEC for the conduct of the presidential and governorship elections respectively and to that extent, INEC and its chairman, Jega, unlawfully manipulated the register to the advantage of Jonathan and Sambo.

It also said that in effect, INEC used different voters’ register containing different number of voters for different elections held in Nigeria.

The party claimed, too, that ballot papers meant for certain polling units were illegally diverted to other units and were used for ballot stuffing.

CPC alleged that there were a significant number of ballot papers missing in some polling units that were never accounted for and that affected the result of the presidential election.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/election-petition-buhari-in-surprise-visit-to-tribunal/101010/

You guys are funny people, a man and his party have done the right thing by going to court and you guys are blaming him, maybe he should have rigged like your PDP people abi or used the army to intimidate like OBJ and Oyinlola did, with people like you close to the corridors of power, nothing good can ever come out of GEJ's presidency.

so what next?

hercules07:

You guys are funny people, a man and his party have done the right thing by going to court and you guys are blaming him,

He's been blamed because he said he would not go to court to challenge the outcome of the election, and here he is at the very tribunal he said he wouldn't go to.
Do you see you are the funny one now. Next time keep your views to yourself if they are this stupid.

                                                 PEACE OUT!!!

Tippy Top:

He's been blamed because he said he would not go to court to challenge the outcome of the election, and here he is at the very tribunal he said he wouldn't go to.
Do you see you are the funny one now. Next time keep your views to yourself if they are this silly.


                                                 PEACE OUT!!!

Lol.