Bola Tinubu
PEPT overrules Tinubu, APC, merges Atiku, Obi APM petitions
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, consolidated the three different petitions seeking to nullify the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
A five-member panel of the court headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani, in a unanimous decision, dismissed objections the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) raised against the merger of the petitions.
Tinubu, the candidate of APC was declared the February 25 presidential poll winner with 8,794,726 votes.
Aggrieved by the outcome, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, are challenging Tinubu’s victory.The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) is also challenging Tinubu’s election.
The presidential election petition court had raised the issue of consolidating all the petitions and asked parties to address it.
Tinubu and the APC had opposed the issue of a merger but the other petitioners maintained a neutral stance.
At the resumed court session on Tuesday the panel held that the petitions would be consolidated and heard side by side given the time constraint to hear and determine the petition.
The court has fixed May 30 to commence definite hearing of the petitions.
By law, the tribunal has 180 days to determine the petitions and that expires on September 16, 2023.
