PDP, Atiku take centre stage at PEPT pre-hearing, Tuesday, as party requests live coverage of court proceedings

Main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and their legal team, led by Mr. Chris Uche SAN, took centre stage at Tuesday’s proceedings at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT), sitting at the Court of Appeal Headquarters in Abuja.

PDP’s petition is being prosecuted by over 20 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) with Mr Uche as lead.

PDP/Atiku’s petition is planked on four grounds; that the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and president-elect, Bola Tinubu’s election is invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); that Tinubu’s candidacy on the grounds of the substitution of the initial placeholder, Kabir Masari with Shettima is questionable., just as it further alleges that the election was invalid because of corrupt practices.

Atiku/PDP’s petition also claims that Tinubu was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the Election, and finally that Tinubu was at the time of the election not qualified to run for office of president due to an alleged indictment on drug-related charges in the United States.

Present at the pre-hearing, Tuesday, including the party’s Acting National Chairman, Amb Iliya Umar Damagum, National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologboniyan, and other party leaders. However, there was the visible absence of the petitioner, Atiku Abubakar in the courtroom.

After the adoptions and arguments by counsels at the pre-hearing session, the court adjourned to Thursday, May 11, 2023, by 2:00pm to allow the respondents; APC, Bola Tinubu and INEC to file their applications.

Notably, the PDP and Atiku counsels formally applied for live coverage of the court proceedings and hearings.

It would be recalled that the petition of the Action Alliance (AA) was officially withdrawn from the PEPT’s Cause List, Monday, in compliance with the request by the party, which had last week, applied to withdraw its petition from the tribunal challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu as president-elect by the INEC.

The AA had earlier requested to withdraw its petition which the panel accepted by striking out its suit from the Cause list. The AA in its initial petition was challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu as President-elect.

However, main opposition, PDP Labour Party (LP) Action Peoples Party (APP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) have their petitions still before the PEPT challenging Tinubu’s declaration as president-elect by INEC.

Also last Monday, the Labour Party adopted all the answers to the question on the Pre-hearing Information Sheet (FORM TF 008).

It is expected that the respondents in the dispute, including; INEC, Tinubu, Shettima, and APC (via their counsels) will do the same, as the pre-hearing adjourned to the 10th of May.

The court also rejected to request by Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong to physically represent the APC candidate, Tinubu at the proceedings, as he was told by the PEPT Presiding Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani that it was unprofessional.

Justice Tsammani told Lalong that he cannot represent Tinubu because “you cannot represent an individual and as a lawyer you should know that”.

Lalong subsequently withdrew his request, stating that he would now represent the APC.

Justice Tsammani also stated that the tribunal will treat all cases on their merits and will not entertain any technicalities, as he further warned that any intentional delay tactics by the parties or their counsel will not be tolerated.

On Wednesday, the Labour Party and its candidate, Mr Obi will take the centre stage at the PEPT in Abuja.

The five Justices presiding over the various petitions, include; the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Haruna Simon Tsammani; Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, Justice Stephen Adah, Justice Abba Mohammed, Justice Joseph Ikyegh, Justice Monica Dongban- Mensem (Appeal Court President).

INEC declared APC’s Bola Tinubu as winner of the February 25 election and president-elect with 39 per cent of total votes cast, with PDP’s Atiku polling 29 per cent, and LP’s Obi 25 per cent.