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My Views On The Dismissed Case Of Atiku Against Buhari At The Presidential Election Tribunal, Muyiwa Olayinka

By Muyiwa Olayinka

It is no longer news that the election petition filed by PDP presidential aspirant in the recently just concluded Presidential election 2019, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar against President Buhari of APC was dismissed by the five man Presidential Election Tribunal.

 The five-man panel of the tribunal, led by Justice Mohammed Garba gave the unanimous judgment on Wednesday 11th, 2019. The tribunal dismissed the petition in its entirety and says the parties are to bear their respective costs. In a landmark ruling that is supported by all the judges without any dissenting judgment, the Tribunal concluded that:

“This petition is accordingly and hereby dismissed in its entirety.”

Other members of the tribunal including Justice Peter Olabisi-Ige, Justice Abdul Aboki, Justice Joseph Ikyegh and Justice Samuel Oseji, agreed with the lead judgment. 

Nigerians from all walks of life had been reacting to this judgment, while some are in favor; others on the divide disagree with the judgment.

Just like any other Nigerian, I followed this case till judgment was delivered. In a lay man’s term, I gather from the case that all the reliefs sought by Mr. Atiku Abubakar were thrown out. In in my view, bearing in mind other numerous reliefs, Atiku’s case rested on two namely,

  1. That the results of the presidential election were transmitted electronically from the card readers to INEC’s servers, and in appraising the whole exercise, he believed he won the election
  2. That Mr. Muhammadu Buhari is not qualified to run for election thereafter is disqualified since he does not possess Secondary School Leaving certificate (WASC), which is the minimum basic requirements to hold political office and a pre requisite for higher education in Nigeria.

I knew it will be a herculean task for Atiku to prove that the election results were transmitted electronically from the card readers through INEC servers, simply because INEC has consistently denied it. In addition there is no existing law to back up Atiku’s claim. I was convinced Atiku’s camp was on a wild goose chase on this one, and invariably, the tribunal established it.

This is Justice Garba’s ruling regarding this issue:

The tribunal dismissed Atiku’s claim that he won the election based on results allegedly transmitted into the INEC sever. According to the Tribunal, the Kenyan Information and Communication Technology (ICT) expert, David Njorga invited as the 59th witnesses to establish the claim that INEC transmitted results to a server during the last presidential election was based on ‘hearsay’ from a third party.

“The author of the content revealing the information from the said server claimed to be an INEC staff. This to me is unreliable for any information that should be relied on by an expert.

“Whatever he got came from the server belonging to the whistleblower and not INEC. Under cross-examination, he admitted that the information on the website www.factdontlie.com could have been doctored.

“His evidence is hanging on third party information from an unknown source. The law is clear on hearsay evidence,” Justice Garba stated.

On the second issue of Buhari’s contentious WASC, the Tribunal ruled:

Mr Buhari’s certificate from the Nigerian military is higher than the Secondary School certificate stated as a minimum academic requirement for the election in the constitution. “Mr Buhari is not only qualified but is eminently qualified” for the election, chairman of the Court of Appeal panel said.

The tribunal failed to adequately put to rest the contentious Buharis’s certificate that has consistently dominated his Presidency since 2015. I feel this is an opportunity for the tribunal to clarify the air on the attestation of result issued by WAEC and the copy of UK WASC brandished in the media.

In legal profession, there is a common saying that “you cannot build something on nothing”. I strongly believe the court gave a political ruling on this issue not to unnecessarily overheat the polity and to maintain the status quo.

For the fact that Mr. Buhari is a retired military General is not enough to ascertain or establish the veracity of him obtaining Secondary School Leaving certificate.

Legally speaking, Buhari becoming a General in Nigerian army in is an effort in futility if he does not have Secondary School Certificate. With this judgment, the Tribunal had taken an opposite position that lend to the credence that “you cannot build something on nothing”.

I’m taking a swipe at the judiciary for failing to take a definite stand on this issue of national concern. These experienced judges are setting a bad precedent to circumvent an established norm.  If we allow this judgment to stay, it means the Court of Appeal is encouraging fraud, forgery and encouraging perjury.

 Alhaji Atiku owes himself and the nation a duty to challenge this infraction at the Supreme Court so as to preserve a chequered education standard that has been jealously guarded over centuries.

This is a task that must be done!! 

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