Election Tribunal: INEC Says It Would Not Challenge Atiku’s Claims

By Editor

The petition and witnesses presented by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP would not be challenged by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the commission’s counsel told the Presidential Election Tribunal on Monday.

INEC counsel, Mr.  Yunus Usman, SAN called to respond to the petition and the witnesses presented by the plaintiffs told the Justice Mohammed Garba-led five-man tribunal that it would pass over the job of faulting the evidence presented by Atiku to the defendants, Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Atiku who was the PDP candidate in the 2019 presidential election is challenging the results declared by INEC on the grounds that it is at variance with the authentic results especially as collated by the back up server reportedly installed by INEC prior to the election.

“My lords,  we have painstakingly reviewed the evidence of the petitioners’ witnesses and also painstakingly studied petitioners’ witness evidence under cross-examination, which support our defence and denial in consonance with our pleadings.

“We do not see the need to waste the time of the tribunal in repeating the same thing.

“In the circumstance,  we will not call any witness to help them prove their case.  We therefore rely on the petitioners witnesses under cross-examination”, Usman, SAN, stated.

Upon that submission, Buhari’s lead lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN gave his indication to start the defence of the petition on Tuesday.

Speaking to newsmen following the hearings, Usman said that there was no point defending the petition against the background that none of Atiku’s witnesses claimed that there was a legal basis for the use of the server.

“The witnesses confirmed that the Electoral Act does not empower INEC to electronically transmit results. So it is not our duty to prove their case for them”, he said.

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