Presidential poll: Tribunal dismisses HDP, Owuru’s petition challenging Buhari’s election

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Thursday dismissed the election petition filed by Hope Democratic Party (HDP) and its presidential candidate, Chief Ambrose Owuru, challenging the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Owuru, the HDP presidential candidate in the February 23 general election, had in his petition asked the tribunal to hold that a referendum election was held on February 16, in which he secured over 50 million votes.

The petitioners also stated that the election conducted on February 23 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was illegal by the reason that it was with no legal authority.

The petition also asked the tribunal to declare Owuru as the winner of the referendum election and order that he be sworn in as President of Nigeria within 24 hour of its judgment.

But, delivering judgment on Thursday, the five- man panel of justices in a unanimous decision held that the petition which was based on a purported referendum held on February 16, 2019, was outside the jurisdiction of the tribunal, whose duty is to determine whether a person was validly elected into office or not.

Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Mohammed Garba, who delivered the lead judgment held that the petition which also challenged the shift in the presidential election from February 16 to February 23 was at best a pre-election matter and ought to be filed before the Federal High Court and not the tribunal.

Justice Garba further held that the suit was liable to be dismissed on grounds that being a pre-election matter it was also filed outside the 14 days provided by law.

The tribunal further held that the petitioners failed to prove the allegations that they were excluded by the second respondents, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the February 23 presidential election.

The chairman said from available exhibits the first petitioner’s name was number 69 on INEC’s final list whose logo (fish) of the party was conspicuously printed on the ballot paper used for the February 23 presidential election.

The tribunal therefore, held that the claim of unlawful exclusion was of no moment and unwarranted.

In dismissing the petition, the tribunal held that there was no provision in the constitution, Electoral Act or any law that prescribed a referendum for election of the president of Nigeria and as such, the claim of referendum election was strange and alien to the mode of electing president.

Besides, Justice Garba stated that the Citizens Observers Referendum Election Rights Protection of Nigeria, the body that conducted the purported referendum is not known to law.

The purported emergence of Chief Owuru as president through voice vote at the referendum of over 50 million was not established, adding that the petitioners claim was spurious since it was only Owuru, who participated in the referendum.

“This tribunal is not persuaded to invoke its powers to grant any of the reliefs sought by the petitioners because it has no jurisdiction to do so and on the fact that the petition is predicated on a purported February 16 referendum and not the election of February 23 that has the force of power.

“What is more, the only witness called by the petitioners, Yusuf Ibrahim, admitted in his evidence that the February 16 referendum was not conducted by INEC and that the February 23 presidential election was conducted by INEC, and that he voted thereby making the claims and reliefs of the petitioners sought from the tribunal to be flying in the air and not grant-able,” the judge held.

The tribunal further held that the claim of the petitioners that INEC has no power to postpone election is absurd because of the relevant laws that empowers the electoral body to shift election and appoint a date for the election and that the petitioners only demonstrated lack of knowledge of the electoral law.

Describing the petition as vexatious and lacking in merit, Justice Garba said that the petition is liable to be dismissal and consequently, dismissed it.