On Wednesday, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal rejected the request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) requesting the tribunal to strike the petition of PDP against President Buhari because the petitioners did not join Vice President Yemi Osinbanjo’s name.
The Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, are challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr Abubakar is asking the court to declare him the winner of the presidential election on 23 February.
Mr Abubakar has asked the court to declare him the winner of the presidential election held on 23 February.
Garba Mohammed’s five-member committee, who read the lead decision, said there was no need for Mr Osinbajo to join the petition.
The request had four grounds for filing it.
One of the four reasons is that the vice president is an indispensable party to the petition and that if a decision is reached without his input, his fair hearing would be infringed.
That Section 137(2) makes Mr Osinbajo a crucial part of the petition.
He added that the petition would be invalidated if the section above is to be followed.
While discussing the first ground of INEC’s implementation on Wednesday, the tribunal described who the parties involved in a request are:
“Subject to the provisions of the constitution, section 137, the Court of Appeal shall have jurisdiction to hear a petition of that nature if it was filed by a necessary party to the petition.”
Mr Mohammed said an election petition may be presented by: “the candidate in an election, the political party who participated in an election,” among others.
He noted that an interested petitioner could file a petition on behalf of himself and the other members of the party.
The judge further said that since Mr Buhari is a statutory respondent to the petition, the petition “can efficiently and confidently be adjudicated upon by the court.”
According to the tribunal Chairman, the previous rulings of the Court show that the Vice President is not a necessary party to the petition.
“It is the conclusion in the judgement that running mates to an election is not a necessary party,” he said.
The INEC application challenging the PDP petition for the exclusion of Mr Osinbajo’s name was therefore dismissed by the court.
All the members of the panel agreed to the lead ruling.