2019 Presidential Election: Buhari ‘Eminently’ Qualified, Supreme Court Rules

The Supreme Court has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is ‘eminently qualified to contest for the 2019 Presidential Elections.

The Apex court which set today as the date to explain reasons for the dismissal of the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said that the Appellant failed to prove that Buhari is not educated up to secondary school level.

A unanimous summary judgment delivered by Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Muhammad, on October 30, 2019, dismissed the appeal filed by Atiku and the PDP after the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal had earlier on in September 11, 2019, dismissed the petition against the election of Buhari on the grounds that the petitioners failed to substantiate the allegations made in their petition.

Justice John Okoro who read the submissions of the CJN held that the failure of the appellants to call credible witnesses was fatal to their case as they presented only five witnesses including a star witness who relied on hearsay evidence.

He added that the appellants failed to prove issues of over voting when it could not produce authentic voters register to validate its claim.

Justice Okoro stated that the unanimous decision of the court delivered on the 30th of October, 2019 is in total agreement with the verdict of the lower court which upheld and affirmed the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.