May 09, (THEWILL) – The Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC), sitting at the Appeal Court, Abuja, has adjourned the pre-hearing of the petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), against the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the winner of the February 25 election.
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.
At the resumed sitting of the Tribunal on Tuesday, a five-member panel of the Court, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned hearing in the petition filed by the APM till Thursday, May 11.
The APM is challenging the victory of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu. The party contends that electoral malpractice and violence marred the elections that returned Tinubu.
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.
Justice Tsammani told all the parties involved to consolidate their issues for determination to avoid duplication and waste of time.
Meanwhile, a pre-hearing session is ongoing in the petitions filed by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
While outlining and adopting the petition filed by the PDP and Atiku, the PDP lead Counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), informed the court of its application for the 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 urgently.
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 during the election.
Atiku and the PDP had in a motion dated May 5, insisted that their case against Tinubu, being a unique electoral dispute with a peculiar constitutional dimension, was a matter of public interest in which millions of Nigerian citizens and voters are stakeholders, with the constitutional right to be part of the proceedings.
“An integral part of the Court’s constitutional duty to hold proceedings in public is a discretion to allow public access to proceedings either physically or by electronic means.
“With the huge and tremendous technological advances and developments in Nigeria and beyond, including the current trend by this Honourable Court towards embracing electronic procedures, virtual hearing, and electronic filing, a departure from the Rules to allow a regulated televising of the proceedings in this matter aligns with the maxim that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.
“Televising court proceedings is not alien to this Honourable Court, and will enhance public confidence”, the petitioners argued.
