The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, Wednesday, ordered substituted service of the petition challenging the outcome of the February 23 presidential election, on President Muhammadu Buhari.
The tribunal ordered that copies of all the legal processes should be served on Buhari through any senior officer at the national headquarters of his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abuja.
The order followed an ex-parte application by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Atiku and the PDP had applied to be allowed to serve the petition on Buhari via substituted means, decrying that retinue of security operatives at the Presidential Villa, made it impossible for them to effect personal service of the processes on him.
The Justice Abdul Aboki led tribunal, Wednesday, ordered that Buhari should be served with a copy of the petition, by PDP and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The tribunal directed that Buhari should be served with all the legal processes, through any senior officer at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja.
A three-man panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Abdul Aboki, granted the ex-parte motion the petitioners moved through their lawyers, Mr. Chris Uche, SAN.
The petitioners are in the petition are praying the tribunal to invalidate the declaration of President Buhari as winner of the presidential contest.
Independent National Election Commission, INEC, Buhari and APC are respondents in the petition.
Meanwhile, three more presidential candidates have separately approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, asking it to void the outcome of the February 23 presidential election.
In their various petitions, the three presidential candidates are urging the tribunal to invoke its powers and quash the declaration of President Buhari as the bonafide winner of the 2019 presidential election.
The petitioners separately alleged that the election was characterized by manifest irregularities, adding that the Electoral Act was not substantially complied with by the INEC.
Those asking the tribunal to sack President Buhari and order a fresh election, are the Presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party, HDP, Chief Ambrose Owuru, while APC and INEC are respondents.
In another petition, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, Pastor Aminchi Habu, equally challenged the outcome of the presidential poll.
Similarly, the Coalition For Change, C4C and its presidential candidate, Geff Chizee Ojinka, also urged the tribunal to nullify President Buhari’s election.
Unlike in all the other petitions, the C4C, which garnered a total of 2,391 votes at the presidential poll, cited the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as the 2nd respondent in its case.
It told the tribunal that its candidate, Ojinka, was validly nominated to participate in the February 23 election in order to secure votes to occupy the presidential seat.
“Petitioners contend that the above election was vitiated by substantial non compliance with mandatory statutory provisions, which irregularity substantially affected the election such that the 1st Respondent was not entitled to be returned as the Winner of the Presidential election,” the party added.
