Atiku’s Petition Valid, Properly Filed — Tribunal Rules

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has just won the first round of preliminary judgment in the ongoing ruling of the Presidential Tribunal, Igbere TV reports. This comes as the Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, held that the petition of Atiku and the PDP seeking to nullify President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election was validly and competently filed. Igbere TV recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had lodged the suit challenging the petition of Atiku and PDP against Buhari and the APC. INEC had urged the Tribunal to strike out the list of witnesses and evidence that were attached to Atiku’s petition, insisting that it was not validly signed by a legal practitioner. It alleged that the name on the NBA seal that Atiku’s lawyer, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) affixed on the petition dated March 18, was different from the name he filled in the Supreme Court roll for lawyers. But in its ruling on Tuesday, the five-man panel Presidential Tribunal said it was satisfied that Atiku’s lawyer was validly called to the Nigerian Bar, insisting that INEC’s petition lacked merit. According to the Tribunal, it was evident that Uzoukwu was called to Bar in 1982, served as the Attorney General of Imo State between 1994 and 1996, and conferred the SAN rank in 1999.