May 09, (THEWILL) – The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting at the Appeal Court, Abuja, has adjourned the pre-hearing session in the petitions filed by Atiku Abubakar, and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) till Thursday, May 11, 2023.
THEWILL earlier reported that the Court, on Monday, commenced a pre-hearing session of the petitions filed by political parties and their presidential candidates against the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
However, at the resumed sitting of the court on Tuesday, a five-member panel of the court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned the hearing in Atiku and APM’s Petitions till Thursday
While the APM will be taken by 9am, the joint petition filed by Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be taken at 2pm on Thursday
Justice Tsammani also ordered lawyers to parties in the petition to meet and harmonise their positions in respect of documents to be tendered, those to be objected to and those to be allowed in without objection.
Justice Tsammani, who told all the parties involved to consolidate their issues for determination to avoid duplication and waste of time, directed the parties and all respondents in the petition to identify major issues for consideration ahead of the hearing.
Earlier, lead Counsel to Atiku and the PDP, Chris Uche (SAN), informed the court of its application for permission of the court to televise the coverage of court proceedings on national television and other news media.
He described the application as very important and urged the Lord Justices to intervene with the urgency it required.
Lawyers to the respondents – Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) for INEC, Akin Olujinmi (SAN) for Bola Tinubu, and Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for the APC, said they will file their responses within the time allowed by the rules of the court.
Atiku had, in his joint petition with the PDP, marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023, applied for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that was issued to Tinubu by INEC.
He maintained that the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election was “invalid because of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
Atiku further argued that Tinubu’s election was invalid because of corrupt practices.
“The 2nd Respondent was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the Election.
“The 2nd Respondent was at the time of the Election not qualified to contest the Election”, Atiku added while listing grounds he said the court should consider nullifying Tinubu’s election.
He prayed the court to declare him the winner of the presidential election, having secured the second-highest number of lawful votes cast at the election.
On its part, the APM is challenging the victory of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu. The party contends that the elections, which returned Tinubu, were marred by electoral malpractice and violence among others.
Lawyers to the APM, O.A. Atoyebi (SAN) and S.A.T. Abubakar (Esq), informed the tribunal that it had responded to pre-hearing questions raised by respondents (INEC, APC, Tinubu, Shettima and Masari) in its petition.
However, lawyers representing the All Progressives Congress (APC), the president-elect, and the vice president-elect, led by Wole Olanipekun (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the petition.
