Ozekhome SAN faults presidential tribunal, says it’ll encourage corruption

The lead counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP)
presidential candidate at the Presidential Election Petition
Tribunal in Abuja, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) said the case between
Atiku Abubakar against President Muhammadu Buhari, decided on
Wednesday “was poorly decided by the tribunal.”

According to Ozekhome, there was very poor evaluation of
evidence. “There were pieces and instances in which only the
evidence of the respondents, that is Buhari, Independent National
Electoral Commission (EFCC) and All Progressives Congress (APC)
were considered without that of Atiku and PDP being considered at
all.

“There were many instances of misapplication of the provisions
of the constitution, the Electoral Act, the INEC guidelines, INEC
handbook and provisions relating to the existence of the Server
owned by INEC. There were even instances when the Court of Appeal,
the Election Petition Tribunal, behaved more like a Father
Christmas by giving to the respondents what they did not ask
for.”

The senior counsel cited instances. “For example, in their
defence, they were merely saying, Buhari was qualified to contest
the election, but when the court now came up by itself to say,
Buhari was not only qualified but was eminently qualified, they
were even granting to them more than they asked for.”

Ozekhome stated that it is of great concern that the judgment,
if not challenged and reversed, will set a very bad precedent for
the citizens of the country in terms of business dealings, in terms
of educational qualifications, in terms of international trades and
in terms of international investments.