The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar filed a plea, and the court has deferred judgement.
To reserve judgement is to put off making a decision until the time is set for the final ruling.
President Bola Tinubu’s victory is being contested by Atiku, who is asking the court to overturn the results of the election on February 25.
Atiku and the PDP claim that Tinubu was ineligible to run for office among other things in the combined petition.
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They claim that the president was indicted for drug trafficking in the United States, that his academic certificates submitted to INEC were forged, and that Tinubu is a citizen of Guinea.
The petitioners also accused INEC of manipulating the poll to favour Tinubu.
The petitioners closed their case on June 23 after calling 27 witnesses.
While adopting his final address, Abubakar Mahmoud, counsel to INEC, said the main kernel of the petitioners’ case “is around the non-compliance with the provision of the electoral act”.
“While I agree that the use of technology is to enhance transparency…evidence adduced by the petitioners themselves shows the good intentions of INEC to conduct a credible, free and fair election to which they sought to deploy credible technology.
“There is no electronic collation system prescribed by the commission. Collation remained manual.
“They failed woefully to establish that the glitch on IReV was caused by human interference and that it affected the outcome of the election.”
Finally, Mahmoud said the argument that winning 25% of votes in the FCT is a requirement for winning the election “is absurd”.
On the issue of dual citizenship, Lateef Fagbemi, APC counsel, told the court that the constitution provides that a Nigerian citizen by birth cannot be disqualified from contesting in the presidential poll.
He however noted that the president holds no other citizenship.
Fagbemi said the issue of dual citizenship has already been settled by various courts as well as the supreme court in Oyetola Vs INEC & Others.
Addressing the issue of disqualification on the grounds of indictment on drug trafficking, the senior lawyer said Tinubu never faced a criminal allegation in the United States.
“The forfeiture proceedings do not fit into the prescription of qualification,” he said.
“It is not a disqualifying factor. No evidence of arraignment or pleadings. It was a civil forfeiture proceedings.”
He prayed the court to “throw this petition as far as your hands can carry because it has failed in both its roots and branches”.
The petitioners urged the court to uphold their case.
