‘The struggle has not ended,’ as Atiku heads to Supreme Court

Lead Counsel to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the

Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT), Chief Chris Uche has disclosed that his client will be taking his case further to the Supreme Court.

The PEPT had, Wednesday, dismissed the petition filed by Atiku and the PDP challenging the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and now President Bola Tinubu as winner of the February 25, 2033 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 1, this year.

Atiku had challenged Tinubu’s victory on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act by INEC, dual citizenship of Tinubu, and perjury committed by the APC candidate.

However, the tribunal in its judgement led by Justice Haruna Tsammani in dismissing Atiku ad PDP petition ruled that the party’s witness statements on oath were not filed along with his petition.

The court also expunged 37 exhibits tendered by the witnesses from the court’s records.

On the issue of Tinubu’s conviction and the issue of his dual citizenship, the Tribunal again held like it earlier did that this issues were incompetent and liable to be struck out and same were indeed struck out.

“On the inability of the election officers to transmit election results electronically, of the 27 witnesses called by the petitioner, 10 were polling unit agents who testified as to how the elections were conducted in their different polling unit.

“All 10 of the witnesses testified that the voting went well and was peaceful in their different polling units but they all said they could not upload results electronically to the portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), so they entered the results manually and took same to the ward and or state collation center.

“The witnesses were emphatic that voting went well, party agents signed the results but the only difficulty was in uploading the results electronically.

“The Tribunal strongly stressed that litigation is fought on pleadings, parties swim or sink on their pleadings.

“On the allegations that agents of the respondents disrupted the elections, the petitioners said video recordings will be tendered as proof but this was not done.

“From the foregoing, the petitioners failed to prove the issue of election malpractice and the issue was resolved in favour of the respondents and against the petitioners.

Issue two is on the 25 percent in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the court simply adopted its earlier decision on the issue.

“Issue three is on the qualification of the Tinubu because of the alleged indictment but the petitioners did not place believable evidence before the court.”

Reacting to the judgement, lead counsel hinted that his client may head to the Supreme Court as according to him, ‘the struggle has not ended.’

Briefing journalists on the decision of Atiku over the judgement, Chief Uche said his client and the legal team had expected the court would have given a verdict that would improve and encourage the use of technology in elections.

“The judgment has been delivered but we have not received justice. Luckily, the Constitution has given us the right to appeal. This is a court of first instance. This is a struggle not for our client but for the constitution of the country and democracy.

“We were expecting an outcome that would improve and encourage the use of tech to enhance election management and transparency in the country.

“We believe that when we get to the Supreme Court, they will have the opportunity to review things said here today. We have the instructions of our client to go ahead to appeal. The struggle has not ended,“ Uche said.

Earlier, the PDP had issued a statement rejecting the judgement of the PEPT court, which it had describes as being ‘against reason, against the facts and evidence presented in court; against the relevant Electoral Laws, Guidelines and Regulations as well as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).’

The party while reacting to the judgement, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, late Wednesday, also promised to have a comprehensive review of the judgment and decide on the next line of action within the ambit of the law, as it further urged Nigerians to ‘remain at alert, calm and united.’

“Few moments ago, the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) delivered judgment in the petition filed by our party, the PDP and its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over the declaration of the APC and Senator Tinubu as winner of the February 25, 2023 Presidential Election by INEC.

“As a party, we have had an initial review of the judgment as delivered by the PEPC, and we unequivocally reject the said judgement in its entirety.

“The judgement is against reason, against the facts and evidence presented in court; against the relevant Electoral Laws, Guidelines and Regulations as well as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). Indeed, the judgment is generous in technicalities and very short in delivering substantial justice in the matter.

“The PDP, as a law-abiding political party, will with our lawyers have a comprehensive review of the judgment and decide on the next line of action within the ambit of the law.

“The PDP calls on Nigerians to remain at alert, calm and united as our Party continues to lead the charge to defend Democracy and ensure that the Will of the people as expressed in the February 25, 2023 Presidential election is respected and restored,” the statement read.