Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA),
Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), said that General Muhammadu Buhari, presidential
candidate from the All Progressive Congress (APC), could be disqualified
from contesting the 2015 general election.
In a video of the Channels TV, Agbakoba said he had had a good look at the nomination form, especially as the current form for the 2015 elections is different.
The new form has a fragment titled ‘Produce Evidence Of Qualification’. In his own calculation, this part was not filled in properly by General Buhari and this might cause a problem down the line.
He said: “As lawyers we go for evidence. Based on the form before me, I do feel that the form has been wrongly filled. I saw in the papers yesterday … but I wished that the certificate was not published so that the distraction will not be there.
“The last thing we want is for General Buhari to be disqualified for non completion of the form. The truth is that he did not complete the form; he put in an affidavit that his certificates are with the army, that is non-compliance, so generally speaking General Buhari has not completed the form correctly.”
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In a video of the Channels TV, Agbakoba said he had had a good look at the nomination form, especially as the current form for the 2015 elections is different.
The new form has a fragment titled ‘Produce Evidence Of Qualification’. In his own calculation, this part was not filled in properly by General Buhari and this might cause a problem down the line.
He said: “As lawyers we go for evidence. Based on the form before me, I do feel that the form has been wrongly filled. I saw in the papers yesterday … but I wished that the certificate was not published so that the distraction will not be there.
“The last thing we want is for General Buhari to be disqualified for non completion of the form. The truth is that he did not complete the form; he put in an affidavit that his certificates are with the army, that is non-compliance, so generally speaking General Buhari has not completed the form correctly.”
The lawyer added INEC cannot disqualify Buhari since the Supreme Court mastered the last time it disqualified Atiku Abubakar.
“I would rather that INEC did not but what I will says is that If INEC sees that the form is not completed, they might then write to the person or not publish the form… If you don’t fill it properly then you have no form. If you did not fill the form properly in accordance with INEC directive then you have not filled the form at all”, he said.
“We are concerned with what the law says, the law says that authenticate your affidavit and you can only authenticate it by attaching originals of your certificates, so if we start by saying that the certificates are not there, we conclude by saying that what will the court make of it”, Agbakoba added.
Since General Buhari submitted an affirmation sworn to in an Abuja High Court to the INEC indicating that his certificates are with the Nigerian military, controversy has continued to rage over the development.
A source said the confirmation overthrew to at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Abuja and dated November 24, 2014, was stamped and received at INEC headquarters on December 18, 2014.
“I would rather that INEC did not but what I will says is that If INEC sees that the form is not completed, they might then write to the person or not publish the form… If you don’t fill it properly then you have no form. If you did not fill the form properly in accordance with INEC directive then you have not filled the form at all”, he said.
“We are concerned with what the law says, the law says that authenticate your affidavit and you can only authenticate it by attaching originals of your certificates, so if we start by saying that the certificates are not there, we conclude by saying that what will the court make of it”, Agbakoba added.
Since General Buhari submitted an affirmation sworn to in an Abuja High Court to the INEC indicating that his certificates are with the Nigerian military, controversy has continued to rage over the development.
A source said the confirmation overthrew to at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Abuja and dated November 24, 2014, was stamped and received at INEC headquarters on December 18, 2014.
naijnews