Further proceedings on the petition the candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, filed to contest the results of the presidential election that took place on February 25 have been postponed until Friday by the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, tribunal sitting in Abuja.
The five-member panel, presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned in order to hear more pre-hearing tribunal testimony on the petition and the respondents’ outstanding petitions.
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The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, are named as respondents in the case.
The respondents are asking the court to throw out the entire case or, alternatively, to strike out many petition paragraphs for incompetence.
Justice Tsammani adjourned the case and stated that the court would make its decision on Friday regarding the number of witnesses that would be permitted for each party, the time allotted to them, and the time allotted for cross-examination.
He asked the parties to come to an understanding on further modalities that should be used.
MDB had reported that Atiku and the PDP asked the court to, among other things, revoke the Certificate of Return that INEC had given to the President-elect in their joint petition, which was designated CA/PEPC/05/2023.
The petitioners maintained that the declaration of Tinubu as winner of the presidential election was “invalid by reason of non- compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022”.
They further argued that Tinubu’s election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices, insisting that he was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election.
Atiku further prayed the court to declare him as the winner of the presidential election, having secured the second highest number of lawful votes cast at the election.
