Tribunal dismisses Buhari, APC’s motions on non-qualification, Atiku’s citizenship

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has dismissed the preliminary objection by President Muhammadu Buhari, challenging the claim that he was not qualified to contest the 2019 presidential election. 

Buhari, had, in paragraph 6 of his objection, sought to strike out the ground.

But the tribunal held that “the issue of qualification of a candidate is ground upon which a petition can be presented.”

The tribunal declared as valid the presentation by the PDP and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and dismissed paragraphs 6 and 385 of Buhari’s preliminary objection.

Atiku and PDP had claimed that Buhari was not qualified to contest the election, having failed to satisfy the provision of Section 131 of the Constitution and 137 of the Electoral Act on his school certificate.

The tribunal also dismissed the objection by the APC contending that Atiku is not qualified to contest an election in Nigeria since he was born in Jada, Adamawa State in 1946, which was part of Northern Cameroonian before the 1961 plebiscite which made it part of Nigeria.