Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have asked the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to declare them winners of the February 23, 2019 presidential election.
Mr Abubakar and his party made this demand in a 43-page final address filed through their lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu, before the presidential election tribunal on August 14.
The petitioners also said they had proven their claim that President Muhammadu Buhari did not have the minimum academic qualification of a secondary school certificate to contest the election.
Mr Buhari’s qualification is one of the arguments put forward by the PDP in their petition before the tribunal on March 28, to challenge the victory of Mr Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the poll.
The nation’s electoral umpire had declared Mr Buhari winner of the election having scored majority of the votes.
But Mr Abubakar and his party accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 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.
They also allege electoral irregularities allegedly perpetrated by INEC and security agencies in support of Mr Buhari and APC.
The tribunal had on August 1 adjourned till August 21 for the adoption of final addresses by parties shortly after the respondents closed their defence against the petition of Mr Abubakar and PDP.
Proving their case, the petitioners had called in 62 witnesses and tendered documents, including video evidence to prove their claims.
While Mr Buhari as the second respondent in the petition called in only seven witnesses and tendered few documents in defence of his victory, INEC and the APC said they would be relying on the testimonies made by the petitioners’ witnesses during their cross-examination.
However, Mr Abubakar and the PDP in the final address, asked the tribunal to nullify the election of Mr Buhari since they have been able to prove the fact that he was not qualified to run in the first place.
Besides, they said they had proved all allegations contained in their petition against the conduct of the presidential election by the INEC.
