Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, have approached the Supreme Court to set aside the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal judgement that upheld the outcome of the last presidential election.
In their 66-ground of appeal, PDP and Atiku maintained that the September 11 judgement of the Justice Mohammed Garba-led five-member panel tribunal, amounted to a gross miscarriage of justice.
Aside praying the apex court to void the tribunal’s verdict and declare him as the valid winner of the February 23 presidential poll, in the alternative, Atiku, sought for: “An order or declaration that the election to the office of the President of Nigeria held or conducted by the 1st Respondent on 23rd February 2019 be nullified and a fresh election ordered”.
In their first ground of appeal, PDP and Atiku argued that: “The Learned Justices of the Court of Appeal erred in law when they relied on “overall interest of justice” to hold that the 2nd Respondent’s (Buhari) Exhibits R1 to R26, P85 and P86 were properly admitted in evidence”.
They further contended that, “The Learned Justices of the Court of Appeal erred in law when they held as follows: “The reasonable inference or plausible meaning attachable to the above provision of Electoral Act 2010 as amended is that a Candidate can list information concerning evidence of his qualifications or other relevant information(s) about himself.
The demand or information required in FORM CF001 cannot be more or higher than the statutory requirements.” Listing the particulars of error in the reasoning of the tribunal, the applicants argued that:
“Form CF001 is designed to take care of the provision in section 31(2) of the Electoral Act (as amended) regarding the “list or information” a candidate is expected to submit and verify by an Affidavit.
“The prescription in Form CF001 for a candidate to attach evidence of all educational qualifications is part of statutory requirements. “Form CF001 is made pursuant to statutory provisions”.