Sorry, I don’t think Atiku is coming By Fredrick Nwabufo – TheNigerialawyer

I have pondered on Atiku Abubakar’s case against President
Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential election petition tribunal. I
have also cerebrated on the counter arguments of the president.

By my ratiocination, the arguments of both parties are nourished
with so much ridiculousness that the case itself appeals more as
comic relief.

The president underpropped his argument with the claim that
Atiku is not a citizen of Nigeria by birth, and that he ‘’ought not
to have even been allowed in the first place, to contest the
election’’.

Truly, the Nigerian constitution prescribes citizenship by birth
as a requisite for the office of the president.

But where did President Buhari get the ‘’genius’’ of his case
from? From a man he sent pythons after in Afaraukwu, Umuahia, Abia
state.

Months before the election, Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the
proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), actuated the
controversy about the origins of the PDP presidential
candidate.

Kanu claimed Atiku is a citizen of Cameroon and not of Nigeria,
having had his place of nativity in a part of Adamawa that was a
portion of northern Cameroon until the plebiscite of 1961 which
wedded that area of Cameroon with Nigeria.

Atiku was born in Jeda in November 1946 before the
matrimony.

Buhari hung his case on this claim, and also argued that votes
cast for Atiku were worthless.

In fact, Abba Kyari, chief of staff to the president, who
appeared before the tribunal, reinforced this claim.

Let me ask stupidly. Why did the president not hinge his case on
the substance of Atiku’s petition, which is the outcome of the
February election? Why did he underpin his argument on the claim of
a fugitive?

I admit, Atiku’s ‘’citizenship quandary’’ as it relates to the
office of the president is a grey area in Nigerian law that the
courts will have to interpret to enrich the jurisprudence.

But the bigger issue, I think, is still the substance of his
petition. Did Buhari really defeat Atiku in the election?

Atiku also brought on an aspect of ludicrity in his argument
with the claim on Buhari’s certificate. I think the president’s
‘’missing certificate’’ slant he propagandised detracted from the
meat of his case.

Let me ask stupidly. Besides the sensation of the president
being un-certificated, how does the claim buttress his case?

Already, courts of different jurisdictions (high court and
appeal court) have dismissed suits filed on this claim. Recently,
the supreme court dismissed an appeal seeking the disqualification
of Buhari on the grounds that he did not submit his academic
credentials to INEC.

In fact, the constitution does not specify ”certificate” as a
prerequisite for the office of the president.

Section 131 (d) of the constitution says: A person shall be
qualified for election to the office of the president if – he has
been ‘’educated’’ up to at least school certificate level or its
‘’equivalent’’.

The ringtone here is ‘’educated’’. Education is beyond the four
walls of school. Travelling, attending conferences, seminars,
workshops and high-powered meetings as well as managing agencies,
departments, companies and businesses are all part of learning and
education.

Also, Atiku’s claim that an INEC server, which contained the
real figures of the election, put him in the lead, could have been
the coup de grace if had a much convincing argument to substantiate
it.

The former vice president asked the tribunal to order INEC to
grant him access to its server and smart-card reader records. He
claimed that from the data in lNEC’s “server’’, the results from
state-to-state computation showed that he had a total of 18,356,732
votes to defeat Buhari who had 16,741,430 votes.

But INEC shrieked at the sound of ”server”.

Yunus Usman, INEC counsel, in a counter affidavit, asked the
court to reject the application.

“They are asking us to bring something we do not have. My Lord,
the commission did not deploy such technology infrastructure in the
last general election,’’ he said.

The electoral umpire has been emphatic in its position that
there is no server for the 2019 election. But I believe, the
witnesses Atiku called did more to pooh-pooh his claim of
‘’server’’ than INEC did.

So, where there are two ridiculous cases; the tad ridiculous
will take the day.

Really, I do not think Atiku is coming.

@FredrickNwabufo

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