Tribunal approves substituted means of servicing petition on Buhari

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in a ruling on an exparte application ordered that the petition brought before tribunal by candidate of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Aminchi Habu, and his party challenging the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the February 23 presidential election be served on the President through substituted means.

Justice Abdul Aboki, head of the three-member panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal of the Tribunal, gave the order in a ruling on an exparte application brought before the Tribunal by the petitioners.

Counsel to the petitioners, Aliyu Lemu, argued that the exparte application was a result of the hinderances to effect personal service of the petition and other processes on President Buhari.

Justice Aboki, therefore, issued the order that the petition and other processes of the Tribunal should be served on President Buhari through the office of the National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC), APC National Headquarters, 40 Blantyre Street, Off Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Wise II, Abuja.

In the petition, which has the President, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), and the APC as respondents, the petitioners wants the Tribunal to, among other prayers, declare the victory of Buhari and the APC at the February 23 Presidential election null and void.

The PDM’s Presidential candidate said the name of his party and logo were unlawfully omitted from the ballot papers by INEC, thereby, denying him the opportunity of contesting in the election.

He is praying the court to declare that he was validly nominated by the second petitioner (PDM) but unlawfully excluded by the first respondent (INEC) from the election into the office of the President held on February 23, 2019.