Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku have asked the presidential election tribunal to sack President Muhammadu Buhari on account for not possessing the requisite academic qualifications.
While insisting that it had made an iron-cast case against the eligibility of the president to have contested the number one position in the country, the petitioners maintained that the election that produced him did not meet up with the standard set out in the Electoral Act.
This was contained in the 43-page final addresses to the Justice Mohammed Garba-led five-member Presidential Election Tribunal filed by their lead counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) on August 14.
The petitioners who are challenging the return of Buhari and the credibility of the election had closed their case after calling 62 witnesses and tendering over 4,000 documents.
The tribunal has fixed August 21 for the adoption of final addresses by parties to the petition.
But in its final written address, the PDP and Atiku insisted that they have proved all allegations contained in their petition against the conduct of the February 23 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The petitioners further claimed to have established the fact that Buhari did not possess the requisite academic qualification for the position of President of Nigeria.
They stated that even Buhari’s own witnesses under cross-examination admitted to the fact that Buhari did not possess a school certificate, being the basic requirements for contesting for the office of the president.
“We, therefore, submit that all the purported evidence led by the second respondent (Buhari) to prove that he attended a secondary school or a primary school or that he attended some courses is irrelevant because he did not rely on any of those purported qualifications in exhibit P1 he relied on primary school certificate, WASC and Officer Cadet.”