I am not like Tinubu, my state of origin and background are not questionable, Atiku says
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has reminded Bola Tinubu that, unlike him, he has contested several presidential elections because he has no drug-related record or identity problems.
Atiku made the points in his reply to Tinubu’s Notice of Preliminary Objection to his petition challenging the result of the presidential election, in which the President-elect mocked him as a perpetual presidential election loser.
February 2023 was the sixth time Atiku has run for President – having previously done so in 1993, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019.
Tinubu, in his Notice of Preliminary Objection filed on April 12 by his lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, also urged the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) domiciled at the Appeal Court to dismiss the petition filed by Atiku and the PDP for being vague, an abuse of court process.
He said the suit was not properly constituted and the reliefs sought by the petitioners were not grantable.
In reaction, Atiku countered he “has never had any controversy surrounding his age, circumstances of his birth, state of origin, gender, educational qualification, health status, working career, and citizenship, all issues bordering on constitutional qualification to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
He said Tinubu has demonstrated inconsistency as to his actual date of birth, secondary schools he attended (Government College Ibadan), state of origin, gender, actual name, certificates evidencing universities attended (Chicago State University).
“The purported degree certificate of [Tinubu] allegedly acquired at the Chicago State University did not belong to him but to a female (F) described as “F” in the certificate bearing the name Bola Tinubu.
“[Tinubu] did not disclose to the [Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC] his voluntary acquisition of citizenship of Republic of Guinea with Guinean Passport No. DO00001551, in addition to his Nigerian citizenship.
[Tinubu] is hereby given notice to produce the original copies of his said two passports.”
Atiku said Tinubu has record of criminal forfeiture of $460,000.00 for a drug-related offence before the United States District Judge in [Tinubu’s] First Heritage Account No. 263226700, being proceeds of narcotics-trafficking in violation of 18 U.S.C 1956 and 1947 for an offence involving narcotics.
Atiku defended his failure to join other presidential candidates in the petition saying, the PDP, including himself, do not have any grievance against Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso or any other candidate because they were not returned as the winner of the election by the INEC.
On the electronic transmission of election result, Atiku said the defence of non-control of the eco-system and of third-party network providers was an after-thought, adding that Tinubu is not competent to offer such gratuitous defence on behalf of the INEC.
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Related articles:
Atiku accuses Yakubu of rigging election for Tinubu to undermine democracy
Atiku moans Adamawa REC Ari following ‘bad’ example of INEC Chair Yakubu
Tinubu scoffs at Atiku in court as perpetual election loser
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INEC ‘violated its own regulations’
Atiku claimed the INEC persisted in the violation of its own regulations, according to reporting by ThisDay.
“As at the time INEC commenced uploading of results to the IReV, the presiding officers were no longer at their polling units. As at March 18, 2023, only results from 166,551 polling units out of 176,846 polling units across the country, had been uploaded on the IReV, as shown in the extract of the Data Report from the IreV.”
Atiku said the place, time and circumstances of these uploads remained unknown to the petitioners, as none of the petitioners’ agents was physically present to monitor the transmission of the purported results.
On the claim his petition is an abuse of court process, because of an earlier suit filed by some PDP Governors at the Supreme Court on February 28, Atiku explained the parties in that suit are not the same as the parties in this case.
Besides, he stressed, “the proceedings which were commenced by Originating Summons dated 28 February, 2023, filed by the Attorneys General of Adamawa State, Akwa-Ibom State, Bayelsa State, Delta State, Edo State and Sokoto State as Plaintiffs, had since been discontinued.
“The grounds of the Petition are competent as they comply with Section 134(1)(a), (b) and (c) of the Electoral Act, 2022. The election of the Second Respondent did not meet the applicable requirements enunciated in section 134(3) of the Electoral Act.
“The Petition is properly constituted pursuant to section 133 of the Electoral Act, 2022 and paragraph 4(1) & (2) of the Rules of Procedure for Election Petition. The petitioners’ prayers are grantable pursuant to paragraph 4(3) of the Rules of Procedure for Election Petition and section 136(1), (2) and (3) of the Electoral Act 2022.”
