Yar'Adua's Victory: Buhari, Atiku reject tribunal's verdict - Head for Supreme Court - I'm vindicated - Obasanjo

From Bola Badmus, Okey Muogbo, Adewale Ajayi, with Agency Reports - 27.02.2008

FOLLOWING the ruling by the presidential election petition tribunal which declared President Umaru Yar’Adua winner of the April 21, 2007 election, both General Muhamadu Buhari and former Vice- President Atiku Abubakar have rejected the ruling and are heading for the Supreme Court.

In a unanimous judgment, the tribunal ruled on Tuesday that the election of President Yar’Adua was legal and dismissed the petitions of Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC).

But immediately after the judgment, both Buhari and Atiku rejected the tribunal’s ruling, with Buhari saying the ruling was a “semi-final,” adding that the final would be at the Supreme Court.

Delivering judgment, the court said the petitioners did not prove that Yar’Adua did not win the presidential election lawfully.

The court also ruled that there was no evidence that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) breached the electoral law in such a way that substantially affected the conduct of the election or the result to the disadvantage of the petitioners.

Dismissing the petition filed by Buhari, Justice John Fabiyi, who read the ruling, declared that: “The petition failed because of want of evidence.

“The petitioner failed to prove that there was substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Law 2006 by the electoral agency to substantially affect the result of the election to his disadvantage.

“So the court cannot nullify the election. The onus of proof of substantiality of non-compliance with the electoral law rests on the petitioner and he did not discharge that responsibility,’’ the judge said.

He said the petitioner did not provide any shred of evidence to back his claim that the result of the presidential election was announced only after results were compiled in 13 of the country’s 36 states after the election.

The court also dismissed his submission that the Inspector-General of Police engaged in corrupt practices that affected the result of the election to his disadvantage.

“The petitioner could not support the petition and could not sustain any cause of action,’’ the judge said.

He said the petition filed by Abubakar also lacked substantial evidence to convince the court to annul the election of President Yar’Adua.

Justice Fabiyi also declared that Abubakar’s argument that INEC did not register millions of voters was not backed by evidence as no one instituted litigation that he or she was denied registration as a voter.

The court also declared that there was no evidence before it to back Abubakar’s claim that ballot papers used during the election were neither numbered serially nor bound in booklet form and affected the result of the election.

“The allegation is, therefore, not enough to invalidate the presidential election,” Justice Fabiyi said.

The tribunal ruled that the inclusion of the name of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Maurice Iwu, in his personal capacity in the petition by Atiku Abubakar was wrong and, therefore, struck out the name.

The tribunal held that the chairman of INEC should have been joined and not Maurice Iwu since the INEC chairman was not sued in his personal capacity.

Buhari and Abubakar had urged the court to void the election of Yar’Adua on the grounds that the election was a ruse and that votes were merely allotted to candidates by INEC.

They also demanded the nullification of the presidential election on the claim that the exercise was not conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Law 2006.

But Buhari described the judgment as “semi-final.” Speaking outside the court premises shortly after the tribunal’s verdict, he said he would appeal to the Supreme Court within the three weeks timeframe allowed.

“For us, it is semi-final. We are proceeding to the Supreme Court,” he told reporters, who besieged him for his reaction to the judgment.

Also commenting, the leading counsel for Buhari, Mr. Mike Ahamba (SAN), expressed disappointment at the judgment.

Ahamba said he presented the proof of facts that results of the election were dated April 20 as against April 21, the date of the presidential election.

Atiku also slammed the judgment of the election tribunal.

He said, “In April of last year, Nigerians were buoyed with the prospects of going to the polls to choose, of their free will, a new set of leaders, including a new president, to pilot their affairs for another four years. In April of last year, that promise of hope and restoration was broken.

“In an atmosphere fraught with fraud, intimidation and outright illegality, a series of events were foisted upon us, culminating in the charade called 'elections' on the 14th and 21st of April 2007, respectively.

“These so called 'elections' have been adjudged by all, far and near, local or foreign, to be the worst elections ever conducted on the face of planet Earth. The elections were so incurably bad that even those 'selected' under this subversive fraud have freely admitted on record that the process was hopelessly flawed.

“Those who orchestrated and perpetrated this fraud on the Nigerian people did so with the belief that, once firmly entrenched in their illegally acquired offices, they could foist upon us all a fait accompli and silence our collective voices. But they were wrong!

“All my adult life, I have always believed and held sacred the principle that there is no alternative to democracy: The enthronement of the will of the people as freely expressed in periodically conducted free and fair elections. But democracy is not about elections alone. There is none more important than the role of the judiciary and the rule of law.

“We have seen how election disputes have degenerated into anarchy and near civil war in several countries in Africa . We have seen how denying people the right to freely choose their own leaders has resulted in the explosion of pent-up frustrations and anger and, sometimes violence, leading to the senseless loss of lives and destruction of property.

“As a law abiding, people-first committed democrat, the standard-bearer of an equally democratic, people oriented and law abiding political party and having faith in the strength, courage and ability of the Nigerian judiciary to dispense justice fairly and without bias, we have taken the one and only route we have always taken in the face of manifest illegality, injustice and subversion of the will of the people: we have gone to court.

“Today, in an epochal and far-reaching judgment, the presidential election petition tribunal has, in its own wisdom, decided that the charade called 'elections' held in April of last year was a fair representation of the free will of the Nigerian people.

“Today’s judgment is not a decision against Atiku Abubakar or the Action Congress. No! It is the peace loving people of Nigeria who have lost today.

In my own humble opinion, the people of Nigeria have had their voices silenced again. Justice has not been done and the rape of our young democracy has been sustained. The future of constitutional democracy and free and fair elections in Nigeria , nay, Africa , remains imperilled and we must redouble our efforts at vigilance,” he said.

President Yar’Adua, immediately after the ruling, called on his political opponents to accept the ruling in his favour in good faith.

Reacting to the verdict, the Special Adviser to the President on Communication, Mr Olusegun Adeniyi, said Yar'Adua reaffirmed his call on both candidates to cooperate with him in moving the country forward.

President Yar'Adua also described the judgement as a victory for democracy.

Speaking when he received his ministers, aides, state governors and other well-wishers at the State House, Abuja, the President called on Buhari and Atiku to join hands with him to move Nigeria forward.

"On behalf of myself and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, I thank all of you for your support and all Nigerians for their support.

"You are here today as brothers and sisters to celebrate and for us to celebrate the victory of democracy.

"Today’s event is a victory for Nigeria’s democracy and for the rule of law. On such occasion, one must feel greatly humbled and also feel a great desire to recommit to the service of this great country.

"I want to once again express my thanks to all of you and to all Nigerians and also to congratulate the petitioners on contributing to ensure that the part of democratic development for this country is firmly on course.

"I believe all of us as leaders have a duty to put our heads together, cooperate and unite to face great challenges of transforming our country from an underdeveloped nation to a modern developed industralised nation that will be capable of meeting the development and needs of all its people,” he said.

Action Congress (AC) on Tuesday kicked against the ruling of the tribunal. Reacting to the judgment, the party expressed shock and dismay that given the preponderance of evidence before the election panel, it could still go ahead to legitimise the electoral fraud and gangsterism by upholding Yar’Adua election.

AC, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated that despite the ruling, its confidence in the judiciary remained unshaken.

"We in the AC have always shown tremendous respect for the judiciary because of its forthrightness, fairness and fearlessness.

"Today’s judgment has not changed that, even though we would have wished that the tribunal would rule otherwise, considering the preponderance of solid evidence showing that what was passed off as election on April 21 was nothing but a charade, a make-believe and a mockery of election process,’’ the party stated.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday applauded the verdict. He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview that the verdict had vindicated his administra-tion's stand that the election was creditably conducted.

“The election was properly conducted,” he said. Obasanjo said the verdict was “a vindication of the fact that my administration conducted the election to the best of our ability.”

He said although no human process was perfect, whatever inadequacy was observed in the elections did not substantially affect the results negatively.

Chief Obasanjo reiterated his claim that no election anywhere in the world was perfect, saying Nigeria's could not be different.

He congratulated Yar'Adua and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan on their victory at the tribunal.

Obasanjo said now that the tribunal had upheld their election, the two men should re-dedicate their lives to the good of Nigerians.

The PDP Chairman, Board of Trustees, also congratulated the party, its leaders and members on the victory and their steadfastness in upholding the rule of law.

He said what Nigerians needed now were dedicated leaders, “who will not allow detractors to weigh them down with their negative comments.”

But in a dramatic twist, Buhari’s party, the ANPP, expressed satisfaction with the judgment of the tribunal.

However, the party said it was going to meet between tomorrow and Thursday to look at the judgment and come out with a definite position on the case.

National Publicity Secretary of ANPP, Hon. Emman Eneukwu, said this while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune on the phone.

The party’s spokesman stated that the ANPP had accepted the judgment in good faith because the country’s judiciary had performed well in the election petition judgments that it had delivered so far across the states of the federation.

According to ANPP national publicity secretary, the party had no quarrel with the tribunal’s verdict that pronounced Alhaji Yar’Adua as duly the elected president of Nigeria.