The pre-hearing of the petitions challenging Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration as the nation’s next president has been postponed till Tuesday by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
The petitions from the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, were delayed until Wednesday, but the panel scheduled the pre-hearing for Tuesday for those from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
Prior to the following pre-hearing session, it requested each party to specify the matters to which they would object.
The Action Peoples Party’s (APP) appeal contesting the results of the presidential election on February 25 was also set for pre-hearing on May 10 by the tribunal.
On Wednesday, the date was established by the five-member justice panel, which was presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani.
APP and their presidential candidate, Simon Nnadi are asking the tribunal to disqualify the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu over his alleged non-qualification to contest the election.
They also argued that INEC failed to comply with the provision of the Electoral Act, 2023 by non-transmission of results, which robbed them of their victory in the election, adding that the election was marred by corrupt practices with the election results compromised in nine states.
They also contended that the APC and Tinubu did not score the majority of lawful votes cast in the election, including the mandatory 25 percent of the votes in the FCT.
Earlier, counsel to APP, Obed Agu that he has filed a pre-hearing application for the APC and Tinubu to concede the election before the matter because of the weight of evidence at their disposal showing they didn’t win the election.
But lawyers to APC and Tinubu, Lateef Fagbemi and Wole Olanipekun, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria, informed the tribunal that will deal with the issues at the right time.