APC asks S/Court to remove Atiku’s expert reports at tribunal

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the Supreme Court to remove expert reports from witnesses of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the February 23 election.

APC, in its cross appeal, asked the Supreme Court to refuse the report and video evidence of the three witnesses who testified for the petitioners at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and whose evidence was admitted by the tribunal. Lead counsel to the APC, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), listed the three witnesses as: one of Atiku’s campaign spokesmen, Segun Sowunmi; Kenyan ICT expert, David Njorga, and data analyst, Joseph Gbenga.

The witnesses had testified that analysis of the INEC server showed that votes of Atiku and PDP were deliberately depleted while those of President Buhari and APC were inflated.

The APC argued that the tribunal erred in law when it held that the evidence and the documents of the three witnesses were considered in the interest of natural justice.

Fagbemi submitted that the decision of the tribunal on the point was untenable on the grounds that the issue of admissibility or otherwise of a document is a point of law and not natural justice as erroneously held by the tribunal.

He also asked for an order of the apex court striking out Atiku’s allegations of electoral malpractices in 10 states of the federation on the grounds that the allegations of electoral fraud were vague and not specific as required by law.

Atiku and PDP had on September 23 filed a 66 grounds of appeal asking the apex court to set aside the decision of the tribunal presided by Justice Mohammed Garba which dismissed their petition.

No date has been fixed for hearing.