Tribunal Strikes Out Atiku’s Criminal Allegations Against Security Personnel

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has upheld an argument by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that it was wrong by the petitioners to raised criminal allegations of intimidation against security personnel.

In its ruling on Wednesday in Abuja, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal said it lacked the vires (powers) to entertain any criminal allegations against any person, who is not before it.

It, therefore, struck out portions of the petition by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the 2019 election Atiku Abubakar where such allegations are contained.

The court had earlier upheld the petitioners’ contention that, issues of qualification and whether or not a candidate supplied false personal information to INEC before the election, could be heard before or after an election.

According to the court, questions about a candidate’s qualification could be pre and post elections issues that could be heard being either a High Court or an election tribunal.

It noted that it has jurisdiction to determine whether or not Buhari was qualified to contest the election and whether or not held lied in the personal information contained in the affidavit he submitted to INEC as alleged by the petitioners.