The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, says his lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu, is qualified to practise in Nigeria against the position taken by the INEC.

Atiku said INEC only exhibited “crass ignorance and incomparable low level wretched illiteracy” in faulting his choice of Uzoukwu in the petition challenging the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari as winner of February 23, 2019 polls.

INEC had in a counter affidavit challenged the choice of Dr Uzoukwu as counsel in the petition claiming that the Senior Advocate of Nigeria was not on the roll call of lawyers called to the bar and therefore not eligible to practice in the country.

But Atiku, in a reaction to the claim, said INEC has exhibited what he termed as “crass ignorance” as the use of abbreviations by counsel has been settled by the Supreme Court.

In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and Strategy, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said as in the case of the dubious WAEC certificate paraded by Buhari, the APC and INEC have assembled a team of lawyers intent on misleading the courts and Nigerians in general.

“It’s either INEC is not aware or chose to maintain a blind eye as far as this issue is concerned. How can you say a former Attorney General of Imo State and a SAN is not qualified to practice law in Nigeria? This is a clear case of crass ignorance and incomparable display of low level of illiteracy intended to mislead the court and Nigerians.”