The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, yesterday, adjourned till May 18, 2023, further hearing in the petition the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, filed, challenging the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
Meanwhile, Atiku Abubakar, was present in court, yesterday, to observe proceedings in the case, in which he is challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as winner of the 2023 presidential election.
The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel adjourned to continue with the pre-hearing session.
Counsel for the petitioners, Chris Uche, SAN, had informed the court that the parties met and agreed on modalities to be adopted with a view to ensuring a seamless progression of the pre-hearing session.
"My lords, counsel for the respective parties have met and put heads together to harmonise and streamline the vital areas and components of the pre-hearing process.
"The first item resolved by the various counsel are documents and we agreed to set up a team together to look at the documents and agree on them in order to eliminate objections while tendering them from the Bar during the hearing.
"We intend to complete that between Monday and Tuesday next week and then prepare a schedule of documents to facilitate the hearing.
"The second one is the issues for trial. For the petitioners, we have filed ours on May 11, that is today, and served it on all the parties, subject to any modifications by the court.
"Lastly, with respect to motions pending before your lordships, for us at the moment we have just one motion filed on May 7.
"We are yet to receive responses of the respondents in respect of the motion which is for televising of the proceedings.
"All together, we have been served with four motions, two from the 1st respondent and two from the 3rd respondent.
"We have reacted to the first one by the 1st respondent and preparing our response to the other ones since we were served not long ago.
"We have agreed to file all our responses and take all of them next week Thursday, subject to the convenience of the court," he added
Counsel for INEC, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, that of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, and that of APC, Charles Edosomwan, SAN, confirmed the report by counsel for the petitioners.
On the application for live coverage of proceedings of the court, the respondents, said they would file their responses before Monday.
While adjourning the matter, Justice Tsammani commended the parties for their cooperation and agreement, noting that it would assist in quick conclusion of the pre-hearing session.
In the substantive petition, PDP and Atiku are contending 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 argued that Tinubu's election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices.
"The 2nd respondent was not he was not duly elected by 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 to nullify Tinubu's election.
Atiku is praying the court to declare him winner of the presidential election, having secured the second highest number of lawful votes cast at the election.
However, in a reply he filed through his team of lawyers, Tinubu, queried the legal competence of petitions seeking to invalidate his election victory.
In a preliminary objection he entered before the court, Tinubu, described Atiku as a consistent serial loser that had since 1993, crisscrossed different political parties, in search of power.
CNPP backs calls
for live broadcast of
tribunal's proceedings
Meanwhile, CNPP in a statement by its Secretary General, Willy Ezugwu, the umbrella body of all registered political parties and political associations in the country, noted that not only would the live broadcast douse tension associated with the ongoing proceedings and high expectations by the electorates, it will also promote transparency in the court process in public interest.
It said: "There is no way INEC, and the ruling APC, and it's candidate in the presidential election, Tinubu, will oppose a live broadcast of the tribunal's sittings up to the Supreme Court, where the matter will eventually terminate if any of the parties proceeds to appeal the tribunal's verdict."
Already, the Labour Party, LP, and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, have aligned with the request by the PDP, and Atiku Abubakar, for live broadcast of the proceedings of the presidential election petition court.
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CNPP said: "It will be difficult to see INEC or the APC and its presidential candidate, Tinubu, stand up to oppose the application for live broadcast of presidential election petition court's proceedings if INEC believes it did the right thing and the APC won fair and square.
"Moreover, objecting to the application will not be in the interest of any of the parties to the petitions and their supporters as a live broadcast is the best way to erase any possible misconception about the outcome and minimise dissemination of false information, especially on social media, which could lead to breach of the peace.
"Therefore, the tribunal granting the popular request will enable Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, who are interested in the outcome of the presidential election petitions, to follow the proceedings live and be better informed instead of relying on hearsay.
"The live broadcast has also become imperative because of the limited space in the court room to accommodate hundreds of thousands of Nigerians who would have been present in court to witness the proceedings first-hand," CNPP added.
