Yar'Adua is the Elected President, Tribunal Rules

President Umaru Yar'Adua

The Presidential Election Petition Appeal Court has dismissed petitions demanding the nullification of the election of President Umaru Yar'Adua and his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan.

Delivering judgment, the court said the petitioners, retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the ANPP and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the Action Congress, did not prove that Yar'Adua did not win the April 21, 2007 presidential election lawfully.

The court also ruled that there was no evidence that INEC breached the electoral law in such a way that substantially affected the conduct of the election or the result to the disadvantage of the petitioners.

Dismissing the petition filed by Buhari, Justice John Fabiyi, who read the ruling, declared that:"The petition failed because of want of evidence.

"The petitioner failed to prove that there was substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Law 2006 by the electoral agency to substantially affect the result of the election to his disadvantage.

"So the court cannot nullify the election. The onus of proof of substantiality of non-compliance with the electoral law rests on the petitioner and he did not discharge that responsibility,'' the judge said.

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He said the petitioner did not provide any shred of evidence to back his claim that the result of the presidential election was announced only after results were compiled in 13 of the country's 36 component states after the election.

The court also dismissed the petitioner's submission that the Inspector-General of Police engaged in corrupt practices that affected the result of the election to his disadvantage.

"The petitioner could not support the petition and could not sustain Any cause of action,'' the judge said.

He said the petition filed by Abubakar also lacked substantial evidence to convince the court to annul the election of President Yar'Adua.

Justice Fabiyi also declared that Abubakar's argument that INEC did not register millions of voters was not backed by evidence as no-one instituted litigation that he or she was denied registration as a voter.

The court also declared that there was no evidence before it to back Abubakar's claim that ballot papers used during the election were "Neither numbered serially nor bound into booklet form and affected the result of the election".

"The allegation is, therefore, not enough to invalidate the presidential election," Justice Fabiyi said.

Buhari and Abubakar had urged the court to void the election of Yar'Adua on the grounds that the election was a ruse and that votes were merely allotted to candidates by INEC.

They also demanded the nullification of the presidential election on the claim that the exercise was not conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Law 2006.