I defeated Buhari by 1,615,302 votes, according to INEC server – Atiku

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has claimed he was the winner of the 2019 presidential election as he defeated President Muhammadu Buhari by 1,615,302 votes.

According to Punch, Atiku claimed that data from the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shows the true and correct results from state to state computation.

He made the claim in a petition he and his party filed before the presidential election tribunal.

In the 139-page document, they argued that Atiku got a total of 18,356,732 votes to defeat Buhari, who reportedly polled 16,741,430 votes.

They said the results were the total votes scored by the candidates in 35 states and the federal capital territory (FCT), Abuja, since there was no report on the sever showing results from Rivers state as of February 25, 2019.

INEC had declared Buhari as winner, stating that he polled 15,191,847, while Atiku came second with 11,262,978 votes.

Atiku had rejected the result, alleging widespread irregularities.

He then asked the tribunal to declare him authentic winner of the election or order that a fresh poll be conducted.

Relying on 50 sets of documents, and listing the INEC as its first respondent, Buhari and the APC as the second and third respondents, the petition, raised the allegation that Buhari was unqualified to vie for the presidential election considering that he did not possess the minimum qualification of a school certificate as required by the constitution.

“The 2nd respondent (Buhari) was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast at the election,” the petition read.

“The election of the 2nd respondent is invalid by reason of corrupt practices.

“The election of the 2nd Respondent is invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).

“The 2nd respondent was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the said election.

“The 2nd respondent submitted to the 1st Respondent an affidavit containing false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election.”