TheCable

The presidential election petition tribunal has adjourned for further pre-hearing, the case filed by the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi.

Obi and the LP filed a petition challenging the victory of Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC),  in the  election.

In the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, Livy Ozoukwu, lead counsel to LP and Obi, said Tinubu “was not duly elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election”.

Amongst other allegations, they claimed that Kashim Shettima, vice-president-elect, had a double nomination in contravention of the electoral act.

The petitioners are asking the tribunal to declare Obi winner of the presidential poll or alternatively, order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election.

At the pre-hearing session on Monday, Livy Uzoukwu, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), announced an appearance for the petitioners.

Lawyers to the APC, Tinubu, and INEC informed the tribunal that they had filed separate responses to the questions raised by the petitioners in their processes.

Afterwards, the five-member panel led by Haruna Tsammani, adjourned till Wednesday for further pre-hearing.

The court directed parties in the petition to identify all the witness statements and documents they would rely on or object to during the hearing of the petitions.

While Lateef Fagbemi is the lawyer for the APC,  Wole Olanipekun is representing Tinubu. Abubakar Mahmoud is the counsel to INEC.

The tribunal also adjourned the petition of the Action Peoples Party (APP) to Wednesday for further pre-hearing.

However, pre-hearing session for Atiku Abubakar’s petition and Allied People’s Movement (APM) is expected to hold on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, earlier at the court session, Action Alliance (AA) withdrew its petition against the victory of Tinubu.

Since there was no opposition from respondents in the petition, the panel dismissed the petition.