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Tsamani and his PEPT members were biased against me – Atiku
By the words they used in parts of their judgement, the judges at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), betrayed manifest bias against me, Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has said, as he approached the Supreme Court to seek the nullification of the lower court, which on September 6, affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory at the 25 February presidential poll.
A five-member panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court led by Haruna Tsammani, on 6 September, dismissed Atiku’s petition challenging Mr Tinubu’s election.
He said the five-man panel headed by Justice Haruna Tsamanni, not only committed grave errors in dismissing his petition, but used disparaging words against him, which “evinced bias, while insisting that the fact that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), failed to comply by its own rules to transmit election results electronically dealt a fatal blow to the entire process.
Dated September 18, 2023 the appeal filed by Chris Uche (SAN) contended that the presidential election court failed to adequately evaluate his client’s evidence before reaching its conclusions, adding that the PEPT failed to represent the true picture of the grounds of his petition, adding that it also failed to nullify the election on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022, when by evidence before the tribunal, INEC conducted the election based on grave and gross misrepresentation contrary to the principles of the Electoral Act 2022, based on the “doctrine of legitimate expectation.”
Specifically, Atiku argued that the lower court erred by refusing to uphold the mandatoriness of electronic transmission of results for confirmation and verification of final results introduced by the Electoral Act 2022″ aimed at boosting election “transparency and integrity.”
Referring apex court to the testimony of one Lawrence Bayode, the sole witness of the commission, who under cross-examination told the PEPT that the “deployment of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and IReV was to guarantee the transparency of the electoral process and the integrity of the results,” he argued this made it imperative that nothing else could have been used otherwise.
Arguing that the lower court was wrong in shifting the burden of proof from INEC to Atiku concerning the issue of non-compliance with electoral laws, he explained that presiding officers from polling units having confirmed “selective transmission of” parliamentary election results as against the presidential poll, “the onus shifted to” INEC “to call evidence to explain the selective transmission” and “the vague excuse of technical glitch.”
The lower court, by the provisions of the electoral act, also erred when it failed to invalidate President Bola Tinubu’s election on account of INEC’s conduct of the poll in “grave and gross misrepresentation” of the Electoral Act and “doctrine of legitimate expectation.”
Atiku also dwelled extensively on the issue of the 25 per cent votes requirement for Abuja, insisting that Tinubu’s failure to get the threshold at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), meant that he ought not be declared the winner of the election.
Stating that by the use of the word And, which he insisted was “conductive and not disjunctive,” the provision of the section was “clear and unambiguous”, adding that a “literary and and ordinary construction would best define the intention of the framers of the constitution.”
Regarding the expunging of the testimonies of 13 witnesses he called to strengthen his case, Atiku argued that the lower caused “grave injustice” when it “expunged” the witness statements on oath of 13 out of his 27 witnesses from its records, because he failed to file his petition alongside the witnesses’ statements on oath.
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
“He is running in contempt of the court. Justice Lifu should be arrested because he is acting in contempt of the court which is a criminal act,” were the exact words with which the African Democratic Congress (ADC), demonstrated its angst over the court ruling on Monday, ordering its de-registration as a political party in Nigeria.
A furious Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the party, told his host while appearing as a guest on Monday’s edition of Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television that the judge of the Abuja Federal High Court who gave the order was actually playing with fire because of the consequences.
Directly accusing him of playing the script of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to ensure that President Bola Tinubu emerged the sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election, the party spokesman, was emphatic that the plan would not work, as head or tail, ADC must be on the ballot in all the elections.
Hear him: “There is a Court of Appeal order saying don’t hear this case until October 27. So, on what basis? You can’t place something on nothing. The Court of Appeal said don’t act on this until I hear it on October 27. So, on what basis did he deliver the judgement
“So, for us in the African Democratic Congress, what we’re convinced and they know is what they have done has no leg to stand on legally. What they want to do is to create doubts in the minds of the people that this ADC has too many legal cases, can we actually run on this? And to distract us. But we’re not distracted.
“We’re very clear. It was in spite of all they have done since ADC came on board that we ran one of the best and one of the most comprehensive direct primaries in the history of democracy in Nigeria. So, we are strong enough to withstand this. And that’s why I’m saying that we are going to contest in 2027. We’re ADC. We don’t buckle before dictatorship.”
Stressing on the implication of the judgement, which also affected Accord Party (AP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for allegedly failing to meet constitutional and electoral performance requirements, following a suit by the National Forum of Former Legislators, he said it portended grave danger.
He added: “We are not surprised. We know that the Nigerian people believe that there is a problem with the judiciary, but what we did not expect is the level of judicial rascality that was demonstrated today.
“What we are saying is that we reject it in its totality, and we are saying that the people behind this are playing with fire. Hundreds, if not thousands, have obtained nomination forms and contested elections and emerged as candidates on the platform of the ADC.”
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