Presidential Tribunal Enters No Case Against Buhari’s Victory

Reports from Abuja indicate that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal originally scheduled to conduct its proceedings at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, is in the process of packing up, as no single case was lodged against the victory of the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, Vanguard reports.

Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, specifically provided for petitions to be entered before the tribunal, 21 days from the day the final result was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The 21 days deadline expired last week, with neither the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), nor any other party or presidential candidate, moving to challenge Buhari’s election victory at the tribunal.

It will be recalled that on three different occasions, Buhari himself had gone before the presidential election tribunal to challenge the election victories of ex-presidents Olusegun Obasanjo (2003), the late Umaru Musa Yar’adua (2007), and that of Goodluck Jonathan (2011).

General Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 general election, defeating the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. When he takes office on 29 May 2015 as scheduled, it will mark the first time in Nigeria’s history that an incumbent elected president will peacefully transfer power to an elected leader of the opposition.