Rivers: Election petition tribunal receives 17 petitions

as presidential tribunal  enters no case against Buhari’s victory

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA—THE Presidential Election Petition Tribunal which was originally scheduled to conduct its proceedings at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, is in the process of packing up, as no single case was lodged against the victory of the President-elect, General  Muhammadu Buhari.

Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, specifically provided for petitions to be entered before the tribunal, 21 days from the day the final result was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Investigations by Vanguard revealed that  the 21 days deadline expired last week, with neither the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, nor any other party or presidential candidate, moving to challenge Buhari’s election victory at the tribunal.

It will be recalled that on three different occasions, Buhari himself had gone before the presidential election tribunal to challenge the election victories of ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo (2003), late  Umaru Musa Yar’adua (2007), and that of Goodluck Jonathan (2011). Meantime, 11 petitions have been lodged before the Rivers State Election Petition tribunal which was relocated to conduct its proceedings in Abuja.

The Secretary of the tribunal, Mr. Deborah Musa who confirmed this to Vanguard, further disclosed that all the petitions were based on the National Assembly election that held in Rivers State on March 28.

She said that so far, no petition has been filed against the outcome of the governorship election that saw the emergence of the erstwhile Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike as the governor-elect for the state, adding, however, that the time within which such petition could be filed, had yet to elapse.

 

Rivers: Election petition tribunal receives 17 petitions