The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) yesterday lost its bid to nullify the April 16 presidential election which returned President Goodluck Jonathan to power.CPC filed the petition on May 8 challenging the validity of the election conducted in 14 states and sought to upturn President Jonathan's victory. But the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal held that the election was free and fair and dismissed the petition in its entirety for lacking both merit and substance.CPC had mentioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), its Chairman, President Jonathan, Vice President Sambo and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as 1st to 5th respondents respectively.The party had asked the tribunal to declare that President Jonathan was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the April 16 election and that his return to power was voided by corrupt practices and substantial non compliance with the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act (2010).But the tribunal, in a unanimous judgment held that President Jonathan was validly elected having secured two thirds (22, 471, 370) of the lawful votes cast during the election. Justice Kumai Akaahs said CPC failed to discharge its burden of proof even on the balance of probability.He said the party did not prove that non compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act affected the election result in any way. He said, 'The party seeking nullification of an election must rely on the strength of his case and not on the weaknesses of the respondents. Before a petition can succeed on the grounds of non compliance, the petitioner must prove that non compliance with the electoral act took place and that it affected the result of the election.' The tribunal also held that CPC was unable to prove the criminal allegations it stated in its petition.CPC had in its petition alleged non accreditation of voters, rigging, printing of fake ballot papers, multiple voting, sharing of money to presiding officers, arbitrary allocation of votes in different parts of the country and non supply of election materials.The tribunal said INEC has no power to release the electronic database to CPC in its bid to prove its allegations of rigging and arbitrary votes' allocation, as doing so will compromise the secrecy of the voters. Moreover, the court held that it is the statutory duty of INEC to defend the election result as an independent umpire.Justice Akaahs said the witness statements of CPC National Chairman Prince Tony Momoh and its National Secretary, Buba Galadima which were expunged after Momoh adopted Galadima's statement, appeared to have been the entire spectrum of the petition.CPC had averred that President Jonathan deliberately ordered the restriction of movement during the election, but the tribunal held that the President only ordered restriction of movement so as to ensure smooth conduct of the election.CPC had in its petition sought a declaration that President Jonathan and his Vice were not duly elected in Kaduna, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Kwara, Adamawa, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Cross River, Rivers, Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo, Anambra, Benue, Lagos, Plateau and the FCT.The party asked the tribunal to hold that the results declared by INEC on April 18 by which President Jonathan returned to power, is wrongful and unlawful.They similarly sought a declaration that the election did not produce a winner as contemplated by the provisions of the 1999 constitution. They asked the tribunal to order INEC to organize fresh elections between its candidate, retired General Muhammadu Buhari and the President.Justice Akaahs however said CPC failed to prove that President Jonathan's victory was based on corruption, and that the party had nothing on which to consider the challenge of the votes secured by the President and his vice.CPC had called a total of 47 witnesses but the tribunal said the mere presentation of witnesses does not in any way prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.He said, 'As the result of the election was not successfully challenged. The 3rd respondent scored the majority of lawful votes cast at the election and secured the mandatory one quarter of the votes cast in all the states of the federation and the FCT. Consequently the 3rd and 4th respondents won the election conducted by the 1st respondent on April 16 and were returned by the 2nd respondent as the duly elected president and vice president respectively. The petition fails in its entirety and it is hereby dismissed.'Reacting to the judgment, CPC's national chairman Prince Tony Momoh said they will appeal the judgment. Also reacting, former FCT minister Nasir El-rufai said, 'We are going to appeal not because we think we can win but because we want posterity to judge everybody. We all know that this is the reason why Justice Salami was removed.'Meanwhile acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abubakar Kawu Baraje commended the judgment, saying it has deepened the transformation agenda of the Jonathan administration.
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