The Allied Peoples Movement, APM, opened and concluded its case before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, on Wednesday.
In its petition, the APM is challenging the election of Bola Tinubu because his running mate, Kashim Shettima, had double nominations as a senatorial and vice-presidential candidate for the 2023 general election.
The party prayed the court to nullify Tinubu’s victory because the electoral process that led to his declaration as president by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was ‘flawed.’
The respondents in the suit are INEC, President Tinubu, Vice-President Shettima, the All Progressives Congress, and Ibrahim Masari who was Tinubu’s placeholder as running mate before the general election.
At the hearing of the matter yesterday, the party presented only one witness, Aisha Abubakar to testify before the court and tendered seven batches of documents obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission in aid of its petition, which the court admitted in evidence.
However, the counsels for INEC, APC and Tinubu, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and Wole Olanipekun, SAN, who took turns to cross-examine the witness, told the court that the Supreme Court had earlier resolved the same issue the APM brought before the court.
They referenced the Supreme Court’s judgment of Friday, May 26, that dismissed the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which sought to nullify the ticket that produced the president and his vice president on grounds of double nomination.
After listening to the parties, Justice Haruna Tsammani directed them to file their final written addresses and adjourned the matter to 14 July 2023 for the adoption of the addresses, after which the court will fix a date to deliver its judgement.
Meanwhile, the PEPC could not hear the petition of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, slated for Wednesday, due to time constraints.
The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel had on Tuesday adjourned to Wednesday morning for the continuation of trial in the joint petition of Atiku and PDP against the declaration of Tinubu as president.
However, by the time the panel would conclude the case of the APM, there was little time left to take up the case of Atiku.
Consequently, the court adjourned further hearings of Atiku and PDP’s petition till June 22, adding that the court could still take them on Friday if they are not done by Thursday (today).
Atiku and his party, the PDP ought to have ended their case on Tuesday in line with the three weeks allotted to them by the court. However, the date was extended to Thursday due to the court not sitting for some days, and might likely be extended to tomorrow.
So far, Atiku has called 25 witnesses as well as tendering various documents in support of his claims.
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