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President Buhari’s victory, lawyers dissect judgement

President Buhari’s victory, lawyers dissect judgement

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday dismissed Atiku’s petition challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari at the 2019 Presidential poll.  Some legal practitioners and politicians speak with Abimbola Akindunbi and Kayode Olabanji on the verdict.

Excerpts:

Mr. Sola Ajisafe

The Nigerian judiciary through the Pesidential Election Tribunal has once again demonstrated its prime position as the bastion of our democratic practice and a development partner for Project Nigeria.

The verdict of the Tribunal has gone ahead to deepen our democracy and expand our jurisprudence in electoral matters.

What the Tribunal has basically done is to restate the fine attributes of the law to the effect that facts backed by evidence are the only ingredients to sustain any legal challenge rather than emotion or attempting political correctness.

As rightly stated by the justices of the Court of Appeal, both the PDP and Atiku failed miserably to prove all the myriads of allegations both civil and criminal brought before the Tribunal. All they came to do and achieved was the media hype to sustain the relevance of both Petitioners.

Anyone who approaches the court must be ready to provide factual, cogent and verifiable evidence that will sustain their protestations. The reliance on sentiments and emotions is not part of law and cannot be imported into our electoral jurisprudence.

 The good thing is that they have the opportunity to further test the law at the Supreme Court.

Mr. Ibukun Fasanmi

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal’s judgment has been delivered albeit subject to appeal by the aggrieved parties.

It is beyond disputations that the decision of the panel was greeted by mixed reactions from Nigerians, particularly the political class.

Quite expectedly, the decision was painstaking and thoroughly made in line with the current legal regime of the electoral jurisprudence in the country.

One may then safely conclude that the entire Nigerian Electoral Laws require a urgent amendment and or review to put the country in the platform with other nations practicing progressive politics with best practices in electoral matters.

The dissatisfactions and grievances that greeted the decision of the Tribunal are more of figments and speculations,that has no footing, yet in our extant laws, than real matters of law.

It is trite that sentiments commands no place in law, adjudication and legal practice.

The justices that sat on the panel only interpreted  the law as it is, in line with decisions of the Apex Court, on the issues submitted for its determination by parties.

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While we wait for the appeal, let us continue to examine the ratio decidendi, substance, of the Tribunal’s judgment.

Most unfortunately, a lot of issues have been misinterpreted by Nigerians on the Tribunal’ s resolution of the issues  raised on Buhari’s qualification to contest for office, having regard to the form CF 0001, earlier submitted in 2015.

It is hereby to the legal jurisprudence and electoral practice in Nigeria.

Dr. Kayode Ajulo

Not only that the judgement is the best in the circumstance, it is well illustrated and the judge distilled every issue. It is a well-researched judgement. A judgement or ruling that took over eight hours, you will agree with me, that it was not a tea party.

All the issues in the case were well distilled, appropriately discharged and well-considered. Apart from what others have said, this judgement has not created a new law whatsoever, it is the same law, it is what has been. All that the judgement has been able to do is to reemphasize and to refortify what we are aware of before.

Recall that about three months ago when this issue of certificate came about, I came out boldly and it was widely reported in the newspapers.

I said you don’t need to present any certificate to be the president of Nigeria. This is again the literal meaning of the provision of the constitution when it comes to educational qualification.

When you check that qualification very well, the law is that for the purpose of elective office in Nigeria, all that is required of you is the school certificate and the school certificate in its interpretation session is given the meaning in which the equivalent of that school certificate because mere attendance suffices.

That was why in the case of Ademola Adeleke that contested the last Osun guber election, it was the same position. But for political mischief, some people turned this into another thing. Are we not even surprised that how would it not have been an insult that a General in the Nigerian Army is faulted in that?

Apart from that, why would the PDP mention the Police, Army and the rest, accusing them of several criminal activities during the election without even bringing them to court?

The question is that, who will defend them? Is it the APC or INEC? I know that some people will say the President is the Commander-in-Chief. But mind you he was taken to court in his personal capacity as Muhammadu Buhari.

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On the issue of server, all the court did was to follow the laid down precedent in giving that.

 For me, I think this is a lesson to any would-be litigant that when you are approaching the court, don’t go there with emotions.

 I think the PDP, they are annoyed, they are angry. They fought blindly without being strategic and not following the law. That is what transpired in court.

I speak as a lawyer and as a former national secretary of a national party, I know the ways of politicians. I want to believe without sounding sarcastic that PDP knows the position of the law, but you know the ways of politicians. What matters to them is relevance.

 If the matter is in court, it will be discussed. Imagine if he didn’t file any petition before now, nobody will still be discussing Atiku. So, going to court is another lifeline for relevance for Atiku.

 

Mr Abayomi Ojo

It is a sound judgment. I agree totally with the reasoning. From what transpired at the hearing, Atiku and his handlers did not come to court to win, but to play politics and give hope to their supporters.

The judgment affirmed and confirmed settled principles of law in our electoral jurisprudence, especially the burden of proof in election cases.

 If you alleged that someone is not qualified to contest an election, it is not the duty of such person to proof that he is qualified. The burden of proving such non qualification is on you, that asserts that he is not qualified.

They raised so much fuss about electronic server without telling the court how it affected the outcome of the elections.

 

Mr. Charles Titiloye

The judgment of Presidential Election Tribunal was thorough and well researched by the judges.

It is a masterpiece of Nigerian electoral jurisprudence. The judgment has laid to rest the issue of academic qualification of Mr President as the Tribunal held that  President Buhari is eminently qualified to contest for the position of the president.

Also the Tribunal dismissed the existence of INEC SERVER. The judges noted that card readers are meant to authenticate voter card during accreditation, and it cannot under Electoral Act, be a substitute for voters register, and result sheet. Smart card reader cannot, therefore, be used to collate result by sending results through it to INEC server. The Tribunal held that PDP proved that the results were manually collated through the result sheets tendered by them in evidence.

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The Presidential Election Tribunal took their time in ruling on every issue brought before it. That made the reading of the judgment to last for almost 9 hours.

The judgment is sound and will surely be upheld on appeal.

We hope by this judgment, Mr. President can settle down to work and ensure he delivers on his electoral promises.

Mr. Idioha Chinemerem

The verdict from the Tribunal, was a mere application of the Law. If we go through the Nigeria Constitution, the issue of the certificate saga, you will realise that the particular section says that a person must have been educated up to secondary school level. It is not a must or condition that the person must have obtained a school certificate.

For the fact that you have been educated up to secondary school level, you are qualified. That was the interpretation from the Tribunal and if we are to go by that, you will see that Mr President is qualified.

Then, the tribunal also made mention of the fact that the petition have failed to bring in the soldiers. You know he alleged that soldiers stopped some voters from voting and there is no way you can allege such criminal offence without bringing in the people you are accusing.

That was one of the points the Tribunal raised and by doing so, I think he merited that position and I stand to submit that the Tribunal have done justice to whatever the petition has brought to them. They applied the laws and I will also say my congratulations to Mr President.

Dr. Akin  Ogunsakin

The presidential election tribunal is the first port of call for any candidate, who is seeking justice in  presidential election.

However, the judgement delivered by  Justice Garba-led tribunal deserves commendation rather than condemnation.

Lawyers are aware that the court will not give you  what you did not ask for. And in this case, the PDP lawyers failed woefully to match their evidence with the facts in issue before the tribunal.

l make bold to say that the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, serves as a bottleneck to all aggrieved candidates in seeking justice. It takes fortune to prove those sections  of the Act.

Unless the Act is amended, the petitioners will always find it difficult to prove their cases. It is INEC friendly. Courts are to interprete the law ‘simpliciter.’  The bottom line is what is contained therein.

It is time to push for the substantial amendment of our Electoral Laws.

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President Buhari’s victory, lawyers dissect judgement

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