National vice-chairman North East of the All Progressives Congress, Mustapha Salihu has claimed that former vice-president and People’s Democratic Party presidential candidate in the last general elections, Atiku Abubakar was deceived into believing that the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commissions maintained a server to transmit the results of the elections.
The five man jury in the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in a unanimous judgment read by Justice Mohammed Garba dismissed the petition by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in its entirety, saying they failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Speaking with newsmen at the APC national secretariat in Abuja after a meeting of the Adamawa stakeholders, Salihu said the petition filed by Alhaji Abubakar was a wild goose chase and noted that the APC presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari has since been vindicated by the PEPT
He said “: Some people jobbed them, took their money telling them there was INEC server somewhere when that was not true and so, they could not establish a prima facie case.
“Even though their lawyer did a good job trying to present their case, it was dismissed because there was no substance. This is a victory for Nigeria and the Nigerian people and not for APC alone. We have now done away with the distractions and this government is going to deliver the dividends of democracy and the next level is assured.
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“The outcome of the tribunal was something that was expected. All the cases canvassed by the opposition are frivolous because you cannot say that an army general who serves as military commanding officer, Head of State, Minister and President of Federal Republic of Nigeria for four years does not have credentials”.
Speaking on the closed-door meeting between the party stakeholders in Adamawa, the North east vice chairman said the motive was aimed at taking an appraisal of the party performance in the state during the last elections, identify what went wrong and ultimately embark on genuine reconciliation.
“This is a meeting of stakeholders, Adamawa APC. You saw the calibre of people that turned out. The meeting is actually meant for us to have a consultation with each other and discuss on the matter border on the development of the party.
“To God be the glory, we have achieved a lot. A committee has been set up to further deepen the consultation and reconciliation. This meeting intends to synergize and rebuild the party in Adamawa state.”