Election Tribunal Rules On Atiku’s Forgery Petition Against Tinubu

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the allegations of forgery and conviction levelled against President Bola Tinubu by the Peoples Democratic Party and its 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

In a judgement read by Justice Moses Ugo, the court, while ruling on motion by the respondents, held that though the petitioners claimed that Tinubu did not meet the constitutional requirement to have vied in the election, they did not spell out what the requirement was.

The judge struck out some paragraphs in which the petitioners accused Kogi State Governor and one Friday Adejo, said to be a Local Government Chairman in Kogi State, of electoral irregularities but failed to join them as parties in the petition.

Justice Ugo also dismissed the petition of the PDP and Atiku, that President Bola Tinubu has dual citizenship and a drug conviction against him.

Speaking on the petition bordering on Tinubu’s non-qualification to contest the February 25 presidential election, the judge held that the grounds were new issues.

He upheld the objections of the APC and Tinubu that the Atiku and PDP could not smuggle new issues not pleaded in their petition on the grounds of non-qualification.