In its second ruling on Wednesday, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPC) upheld argument by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that it was wrong by the petitioners to raised criminal allegations of intimidation, harassment, corruption, etc against security personnel and some named persons, but who are not parties to the petition.
The PEPC, in the second ruling on a motion by INEC, said the court lacked the vires (powers) to entertain any criminal allegations against any person, who is not before it.
It proceeded to strike out portions of the petition by Atiku and the PDP, where such allegations are contained.
Earlier in the ruling, the court upheld the petitioners’ contention that, issues of qualification and whether or not a candidate supplied false personal information to INEC before the election, could be heard before or after an election.
The court said questions about a candidate’s qualification could be pre and post elections issues that could be heard being either a High Court or an election tribunal.
It held that it has jurisdiction to determine thi issue of whether or not Buhari was qualified to contest the election and whether or not held lied in the personal information contained in the affidavit he submitted to INEC as alleged by the petitioners.
Details shortly…
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