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We Deem it Necessary to collectively bring to you the Latest Happening around what is Happening in The Presidential Tribunal. We at Ugobestiky are always capable to the task.
Presidential Tribunal: ‘Atiku is a Cameroonian ‘flesh and blood’ – Abba Kyari
Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buahri on Tuesday told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal that the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar in the Feb.23 general election was a Cameroonian “flesh and blood’’.
Kyari, who was led through his deposition by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Counsel for the president, insisted that Jada, hometown of the former vice president was in Adamawa Province, an enclave that belonged to Northern Cameroon in 1946 when he (Atiku) was born. He explained that Atiku was already born in 1946 before the plebiscite was conducted in 1961 to balkernize Nigeria and Cameroon where Jada which was part of Northern Cameroon voted to become Nigerian territory.
Kyari further said that the plebiscite also resulted in the Southern part of Cameroon officially aligning to becoming Cameroonian territory. The witness therefore, said the French system of assimilation had compelled people of Jada, including Abubakar’s father and grandfather to be full Cameroonians in “flesh and blood’’. On the status of Buhari Certificate, Kyari said he had personally gone to collect the Cambridge University West Africa Examination Certificate of the president on July 18 for further proof.
“I can confirm that I was the one that collected and signed the Cambridge University West Africa Examination Certificate on behalf of the president on July 18, 2019,’’ he said. Buhari and his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) had urged the tribunal to dismiss PDP’s petition for fielding a non-Nigerian to contest the presidential election. They submitted that the Constitution had foreclosed the participation of non-Nigerians in the County’s election.
They further argued that it did not matter if the provision was not tested when Atiku was selected to be the country’s vice president. The president and APC had therefore invited the tribunal to do the needful by dismissing all the allegations made by the petitioners against Buhari’s victory.
The respondents further submitted that it was inappropriate for a non-Nigerian to contest or challenge outcome of the Feb.23 presidential election. Also testifying was Retired Gen. Paul Tarfa, who said Buhari was he enlisted with Buhari into the Officer Cadre of the Nigerian Army on April 16, 1962. Tarfa explained that English Language was the medium of instruction, adding that Buhari had achieved an enviable record during the military training. He listed some of their colleagues to include Brigadier Ola Oni, Maj:-Gen. Durojaye, Col. J.C Ojukwu, Late Brigadier Shelleng as well as Late Maj:-Gen Musa Yar-Adua.
He said the conduct of the promotional examination in the military was always done in the merit, adding that Buhari had always come out in flying colour. On his part, Malam Suleman Mai-adua, Buhari’s classmate in Katsina Provincial Secondary School in his evidence in chief, said, they graduated from the school with Cambridge University West African Examination Certificate in 1961.
The witness, who came to court with a group photograph of the class six of 1961 set and their principal, was able to spot himself and Buhari in the picture. Earlier, the tribunal admitted a total of 26 documentary evidence from the president through his counsel, Olanipekun.
NAN listed the some of the exhibits to be 19 Certified True Copies of Newspaper publications. The respondent also tendered the APC Roadmap to a new Nigeria as evidence. The others are: Cambridge Assessment International Education Certificate for Muhammadu Buhari obtained in 1961 and Receipt of the above document. The tribunal also admitted as evidence, a Certified-True-Copy of Confidential Result sheet of the University of Cambridge West Africa School Certificate 1961 for Katsina Provincial Secondary School showing names of candidate who attended sat for the examination.
Another set of evidence included the class six group photograph of Katsina Provincial Secondary School taken in 1961 and news publication of June 22, 2015 of the above photograph. Also tendered and admitted was the Curriculum Vitae of the second respondent (Buhari) which was duly signed by him. Furthermore, the tribunal admitted a commendation letter on Buhari signed by the Commandant of the U.S. Army War College delivered to Lt:- Gen. Alani Akinrinade (Rtd) in June 1980. However, Dr Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, Counsel for the Petitioners objected to the admissibility of the all the materials but had reserved reasons to the address stage.
Justice Mohammed Garba, Chairman of the tribunal, thereafter adjourned proceedings until July 31 for continuation.
It was a rude shock to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Tuesday when Major-General Paul Chadri Tarfa, retd, declared that the military Authority in 1961 did not ask them during enlistment to submit for safe keep their Secondary School Certificates.
Tarfa’s submission was contrary to a public statement made by President Muhammadu Buhari wherein he claimed that the military authority was in possession of his certificate.
But Tarfa who affirmed that he was recruited into the Nigerian Army on April 16, 1962 with Buhari said this under cross-examination by Buhari’s lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun.
Yet, there was a contradiction. This is because while Tarfa agreed that Buhari joined the army in 1962, Suleiman Isa Mai Adu’a, another APC Witness said Buhari joined the Army in 1961.
Presidential Tribunal: PDP moves to Supreme Court, seeks more time to file documents
The Peoples Democratic Party has asked the Supreme Court for permission to file additional documents before the presidential election petition tribunal outside the allowed time.
The PDP made the request on Tuesday through its lawyer, Paul Erokoro.
Mr Erokoro noted that the application was dated Tuesday, July 30.
The PDP had closed its case in the ongoing hearing of the petition after presenting a series of documents containing result sheets and other certified true copies to support their documents within the 10 days, accrued to them by the tribunal.
After closing their case, the respondents, starting from INEC, were supposed to begin their defence at the next adjourned date, but declined to do so at the continuation of the trial on Monday.
A lead counsel for the PDP, Levy Uzuegwu, had asked the Court of Appeal, on Monday to spread the time allotted to INEC for the other parties, especially the petitioners. But that request was stood down, as the tribunal said it would decide after checking the time taken by the others in presenting their own defence.
It was not immediately clear what documents the PDP intends to bring if granted permission, but the party said it was making its request in order to bring “supplementary documents” outside its specified time.
A five-member panel of the Court led by Justice Mary Odili adjourned the matter to August 20, to allow parties reply to the application before it is decided.
The second respondent, President Muhammadu Buhari, is expected to open his defence later today.
The PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, are currently before the tribunal to contest the stated victory of Mr Buhari at the February 23 general elections.
The party accused the nation’s electoral umpire of colluding with the ruling party to rig the poll in favour of the APC.
According to Mr Abubakar, his party won the elections with over 1 million votes from details seen by the petitioners during its investigation.
Presidential Tribunal: INEC to defend Buhari’s victory over Atiku today
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will commence defence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the 2019 presidential election today, Monday.
INEC will open its defence in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, against the conduct of the February 23, 2019, election.
The electoral umpire declared Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner.
INEC will in the next six days defend the allegations contained in PDP and Atiku’s petition where 62 witnesses gave evidence against the credibility of the election.
Atiku and PDP had closed their case at the Justice Mohammed Garba led five-man Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja.
The tribunal had adjourned till July 29 for the first respondent, INEC, to open its defence.
One of the major issues that will dominate the tribunal session is the controversy generated by the existence and usage of a server by INEC.
Atiku and PDP are contending that the result of the election was downloaded into INEC server, while both the INEC, Buhari and APC vehemently denied the claim.
Atiku vs Buhari: PDP still optimistic of victory – Peter Obi
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Vice Presidential Candidate in the last election, Mr. Peter Obi, says the party still has the chances of taking over the reigns of power in the country.
Obi, who spoke in Awka, Anambra State during the party’s stakeholders meeting, said all hope was not lost as the party had a good case at the tribunal, which was still on.
He said, “Election in Nigeria is not easy, after the election, you have to still go to court and queue up, and that is where real money is spent in hiring lawyers, but I must assure you that all hope is not lost, and we are progressing steadily.
“The man, who is there now, has contested for four times before he made it, and we are also confident that in no time, the right thing will be done,” Obi said in Igbo language.
The former governor said that as the country stood today, PDP remained the only hope of a progressive and prosperous Nigeria as the APC had failed the country and its citizens completely.
“In church this morning, when the priest called up prayers for Nigeria, the man sitting next to me told me he had stopped praying for Nigeria long ago, but rather prays for the removal of APC, since we already know who the problems of the country are.
“Nigerians are already disenchanted with the APC, and even the APC members are also complaining, so that has made PDP a brand today, and marked her out as the only party that can deliver Nigeria.”
Obi also thanked members of the party in the state, saying that it was only in Anambra that the APC failed to get as little as five percent.
“That feat was made possible by all of you here. Despite the fact that they had all the security agencies working for them and here in Anambra we also had a governor who was strongly against us, but they could not get five percent.”
He told stakeholders of the party that he would never contest for any elective position in Anambra again, but will not relent in contesting elections at the centre, to ensure that Nigeria was set on the right path again, and will continue to do so even at the expense of his life.
Earlier, the state party chairman, Mr. Ndubuisi Nwobu, assured that the main essence of the meeting was to start early to make plans to win back the governorship position of the state in the governorship election scheduled to hold in 2021.
Stakeholders of the party, including Senator Ben Obi, Senator Uche Ekwunife among several others, urged party men, who were desirous of contesting for the governorship position to begin early to galvanize support for the party.
Senator Ben Obi in his address called on members of the party to join hands to raise resources for the party as leaving her to billionaires would mean bringing the party on its knees.
Ekwunife commended the members of the party for remaining steadfast, despite having been out of power for 12 years, but urged all to rally round the party to bounce back again as she referred to Anambra as a PDP state.
Presidential Election Petition: Atiku’s top witness denies seeing INEC server
The star witness invited by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Osita Chidoka, on Friday admitted that he has never seen the purported server, which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) allegedly used to transmit results.
When asked if he witnessed the transmission of the results electronically to the server, Chidoka said no.
According to him, he got the idea of the server from past statements by INEC Chairman.
Chidoka also said he did not know the address of the server and where it is located, claiming a whistle-blower provided information about the existence of the server.
Reports that Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, also rejected his request, to amend his written statement on oath.
Chidoka was PDP’s National Returning Officer during the 2019 presidential election.
Buhari vs Atiku: PDP tenders 1,353 result sheets at presidential tribunal
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Friday tendered a total of 1,353 result sheets at the ongoing presidential election petitions tribunal sitting in Abuja.
Counsel to PDP and its 2019 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Chris Uche told the tribunal that the result sheets comprised of EC8As and EC8Bs from 11 states.
EC8A is the final result for a polling unit while EC8B is the final result at the ward level.
Uche told the tribunal that the EC8As are 1,266 and the EC8Bs are 87 in number.
“We have EC8As and Bs. The EC8As are 1,266 and the EC8Bs are 87 in number.
“We have 38 receipts as payments for the documents,” he said.
But counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Yunus Usman objected to admission of the documents as evidence.
He contended that the reason for objecting to the admission of the result sheets would be contained in their final written address.
“We object to the admissibility of these documents. [Reasons] will be in our final address,” he said.
Lateef Fagbemi, counsel of the All Progressives Congress (APC), also objected to the admission of the documents.
“We object and reason for our objection will be till the end of time in this case,” he said.
Buhari vs Atiku: I got presidential election results from website operated by INEC official – ICT expert tells tribunal + Website Evidence + Photos + pdf
An ICT expert from Kenya, David Ayu Nyango Njoga on Friday said he retrieved the results of the 2019 presidential election from a server allegedly operated by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Njong, who is a petitioner’s witness, told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal that the results of the last elections were stored in a server allegedly operated by INEC.
According to Njoga, he only got the report which he later analysed from a third party website: “www.factdontlieng.com”.
We at Ugobestiky tried to login to the site and the Website is Down for now and so we tried Parsing through The caches left behind by the Website Via Google and these are what we got. We got a pdf File containing the status of the Election Result and We got the Presidential results and according to our findings the website stopped functioning on the 17th of July. Below are the information we got.
Claiming that the information was provided by an INEC official, Njoga informed the tribunal that the alleged INEC official acted as an anonymous person.
When asked if the website belonged to INEC, he said no but by a whistle-blower.
Njonga said the website was created on March 12, 2019.
When reminded that the presidential election held on February 23 and the results were released before March 12, the witness went mute.
Atiku vs Buhari: Court rejects Osita Chidoka’s request to amend statement against Buhari, APC
The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, has rejected the request by Osita Chidoka to amend his written statement on oath.
Chidoka was the National Returning Officer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the last presidential election.
Chidoka was asked by the petitioners’ lawyer, Chris Uche (SAN) to identify and adopt his written statement, as was the case with other earlier witnesses.
The politician, who mounted the witness box on Friday as the petitioners’ fourth and star witness for the day, sought to amend some portions of his written deposition (statement on oath).
He pointed out the part of his statement he wanted to amend, but the court rejected his request on the grounds that, having signed the statement, he could no longer amend.
Presidential Tribunal: Court rejects PDP, Atiku’s request for more time to close case
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has turned down request made by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and it’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, for more time to close their case.
The ten days earlier granted Atiku and the PDP by the Tribunal during pre-hearing session to conclude their case elapsed today.
Atiku and PDP lawyer, Chris Uche, had prayed the Tribunal for more time but the Justice Mohammed Garba-led Tribunal rejected the prayer.
The Tribunal said said the trial would continue till later in the day to enable the PDP and Atiku close their case.
Atiku and the PDP are challenging the victory of President Muhammdu Buhari and his party the All Progressives Congress, APC in the February 23rd Presidential election.
