Presidential election tribunal: Jonathan lines up 102 witnesses to confront Buhari

Posted by admin Goodluck Jonathan (2010-present), Latest Politics, Presidency Sunday, June 5th, 2011

President Goodluck Jonathan and his deputy, Namadi Sambo have lined up 102 witnesses made up of forensic and finger experts, a biometric analyst and a statistician to prove that the presidential election in which they were declared winners by the Indpendent National Electoral Commission [INEC] was conducted substantially in accordance with the Electoral Act.

In their reply to petition by the Congress for Progressive Change [CPC] contesting their victory at the Presidential election Tribunal, the president and his vice expressed confidence that they would be vindicated when materials used for the election are subjected to forensic tests.

While describing the petition as baseless, vague and an afterthought, they contended through their team of lawyers spearheaded by ten senior advocates of Nigeria; Chief Wole Olanipekun, O.C.J. Okocha, Dr. Alex Izinyon, Damien Dodo, Dabian Ajogwu, Ighodalo Imadegbelo, Chief Assam Assam, O.A. Omonuwa, Jude Nnodum and Paul Erokoro that the issues and allegations raised in the petition were not only frivolous but also scandalous and unsupportable in law and in fact.

In urging the court to dismiss on the grounds of incompetence, it is their conviction that If their objection is upheld, the petition will be thrown out at an early stage withoutn going into trial. The winners of the presidential election rooted their objection on the following grounds: That the petition was founded on a nullity having been filed on Sunday, the 8th day of May, 2011. They said that Sunday was a non-working day and that the registry of the court, under the applicable rules did not open on a Sunday for the transaction of any business.

Secondly, they said that the petition was not properly constituted because General Muhammadu Buhari and Pastor Tunde Bakare for whose benefit the petition was filed were not made parties to the petition“The prayers/reliefs of the Petitioner cannot be granted in the absence of Buhari and Bakare,” they added. They also said that the petition was a gross abuse of the processes of the court and that it dealt with hypothetical and academic issues which could not be determined by the court.

It is also their contention that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the petition because some of the grounds relied upon by the petitioner were pre-election matters which could not be determined by an election tribunal.
But if the court is not favourably disposed in throwing out the petition at the preliminary stage, they would be reying on their joint reply where they chronicled reasons as to why the petition should be dismissed. Specifically, they argued that CPC did not have adequate coverage of the country to enable it win the presidential eletion.

It is also their contention that Buhari and Bakare did not campaign throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria for the presidential election whereas they (Jonathan and Sambo) repeatedly campaigned throughout the federation and paid repeated visits to some states.
-Sunwp_posts