Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal under its new Chairman, Justice Mohammed Garba, has dismissed the petition of the Coalition for Change (C4C) against the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the February 23 presidential election.
The decision followed an application for withdrawal of the petition filed by the petitioners on June 10.
Related: Tribunal gets new chairman, shifts hearing to Tuesday
Meanwhile, the tribunal has adjourned proceedings till Tuesday when it will hear six pending applications that were filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, bordering on the petition challenging President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.
Justice Garba was drafted from the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal to take the place of the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, as leader of the five-member tribunal.
Justice Bulkachuwa had on May 22 recused herself from heading the panel, following a petition that was lodged against her by the PDP and its candidate Atiku.
The petitioners had argued that it would be wrong to allow Justice Bulkachuwa, whose husband and son are active card-carrying members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) – the President’s party – to head the tribunal.
Justice Garba had in his remarks promised that the tribunal would be fair to all parties in the suit, and called for maximum cooperation from lawyers representing parties in order to give expeditious hearing to the petitions.
Justice Garba called the first case, that of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) and its presidential candidate Chief Ambrose Oworu.
The party and its presidential candidate had approached the tribunal to nullify Buhari”s victory in the February 23 presidential poll.
After parties in the suit identified their various processes before the tribunal, Justice Garba fixed June 13 for hearing of motions filed against the hearing of the HDP’s petition.
At Monday’s proceedings, lawyers to Buhari, INEC and APC in their brief of argument urged the tribunal to dismiss the suit of the HDP for being incompetent and lacking in merit.
Meanwhile, mild drama ensued when a factional National Chairman of the HDP, one Poland Awinitabre, disowned counsel for the HDP and its presidential candidate Chief Oworu.
It started when two different lawyers Nelson Ekwedibia and one Donald M. O. had announced appearance for the petitioners, forcing the panel to ask Awinitabre, who had announced appearance for the party, to identify the actual counsel for the HDP.
Responding, the HDP factional National Chairman told the panel, “the party has not engaged Nelson Ekwedibia.”
However, Ekwedibia told the panel that he was engaged by Chief Owuru, who is both National Chairman of the HDP and the party’s candidate in the February 23 presidential election.
Ekwedibia further informed the tribunal that he was the one who filed the petition against President Buhari and has been representing the two petitioners since the start of the case.
Justice Garba fixed Tuesday, June 11 for hearing of all applications against the petition of Atiku and the PDP.
President Buhari and his party, the APC, while identifying their various processes before the tribunal, asked the tribunal to strike out Atiku and PDP’s petition challenging their victory at the presidential poll for being incompetent and lacking merit.
Counsel to the INEC, Yunus Usman, SAN, cited failure to comply with paragraph 18 (1) first schedule of the Electoral Act as grounds for the call for the dismissal of Atiku and PDP’s petition.
The INEC in another application urged the tribunal to strike out some parts of the petition and, at the end of the day, the entire petition.
Usman further prayed the panel to strike out Atiku and PDP’s petition for failure to join the Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo, in the suit.
On his part, President Buhari’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, prayed for the dismissal of the entire petition filed by Atiku and his party.
He also prayed for the striking out of the reply filed by the petitioners to the reply of the respondents’ application.
Counsel to APC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, in his submission, told the tribunal that he had three applications, praying for the striking out of the entire petition or striking out of some paragraphs of the petition.
The panel, however, announced that it will hear all the applications on Tuesday, June 11.
It fixed June 17 for hearing of all objections to the hearing of the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).
Before then, the tribunal had dismissed the petition by C4C brought against President Buhari’s election.
When hearing resumed, counsel representing Mr Buhari and the APC, Wole Olanipekun and Lateef Fagbemi, informed the court that their clients were yet to be served with a copy of the petition by the C4C.
Olanipekun told the tribunal that at the last sitting, an application for substituted service was granted but that, up until Monday morning, the petitioners were yet to serve the processes on the first respondent.
Responding, counsel representing the C4C, Obed Agwu, informed the tribunal of an application for the withdrawal of their petition.
Though the petitioners did not disclose the reason behind their action, they urged the tribunal to strike out their case.
The application was not objected to by counsel to President Buhari (Olanipekun), counsel to the INEC (Yunuz Uztaz) SAN, and APC counsel Prince Lateef Fagbemi.
Consequently, in a short ruling, Justice Garba dismissed the petition, even as it refrained from awarding any cost against the petitioners. Specifically, the petitioners had asked the tribunal to nullify the February 23 presidential election on the premise that its party logo was not included in the ballot papers.
Monday’s court proceeding was witnessed by the vice presidential candidate of the PDP, Mr Peter Obi, former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Nuhu Ribadu, and a commissioner at the INEC.