*Ahead of legal battle

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

President Goodluck  Jonathan and his victorious campaign team are set to tackle Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd)  at the presidential election tribunal with the allegation that six million of the 12 million votes  credited for the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC,  candidate in the April 16 presidential poll were fraudulently obtained.

The defence team, it was learnt, yesterday, are equally poised to confront Buhari using pictorial and forensic evidence to establish allegations of under-age  voting in the strongholds of the CPC presidential flag bearer.

CPC Presidential candidate, Gen. Buhari

The response from  Jonathan followed  the petition lodged at the presidential election petition tribunal by the CPC over its loss in last month’s  election.

Buhari was defeated by the president  who flew the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,  in the election.
“We are not only  out to defend that suit. We are also  out to defend our votes and the mandate clearly given to us by Nigerians. We are equally out to show the world that our opponent gained  the votes ascribed to them through untoward means,” a source among those coordinating the legal team to defend the president said.

“Our intention is to weed out all votes of underage persons in the CPC votes. They have a preponderance of this in states we have marked out and we intend to get his votes reduced to about six million”.

In expressing the determination of the PDP to robustly tackle  the CPC petition, Sunday Vanguard  learnt that the PDP is assembling a strong team of legal experts and advisers who are  going to make an issue of alleged intimidation of voters and rigging in the strongholds of the CPC in the North.

It was learnt that the legal team was going to point at what some Presidency and PDP officials described  as “direct  fraud” in the assemblage of 12 million votes for the CPC presidential candidate in his third run for the nation’s presidency last month.

The team was said to be  aiming to cite  “underage voting, religious and ethnic intimidation of voters, thuggery, through physical assault on many PDP members in CPC strongholds.”

The full colour and character of the legal defence team of the Jonathan/Sambo ticket was, however, not  fully disclosed at the weekend.

Noting the extent of pictorial evidence including video and still photo shots in the kitty that would be provided to the legal team, the source disclosed: “We have amassed evidence against the CPC and we are not just sitting by after the well deserved victory given to the PDP  by Nigerians. It will shock them this time.

“The CPC cannot stop Nigeria’s march towards greatness and transformation, which the PDP has flagged off under President Goodluck Jonathan. Rather than attempt to draw the nation back into arguments of religion and region, Buhari and the CPC need to join hands with patriots to build a united Nigeria.”

The CPC had on Friday approached the presidential election tribunal to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and  its Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in the states to furnish it with some documents and material evidence that will be pivotal to the success of its petition against the declaration of Jonathan as the winner of the presidential election.