Lawyer to the petitioners, Chris Uche (SAN), in a counter-argument, urged the tribunal to dismiss all the applications and proceed to hear his client’s application on merit.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has adjourned till Saturday, May 20 to rule on applications by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President-elect Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) seeking the dismissal of the petition by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
INEC, Tinubu and the APC are praying the court either dismisses the petition in whole or some of its paragraphs and other accompanying processes filed by the petitioners for offending the provisions of the law.
After taking arguments, Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel announced that the rulings have been reserved to be delivered on the day of judgment in the main petition.
Lawyers, who moved the applications for INEC, Tinubu and APC – Kemi Pinheiro, Yusuf Ali and Lateef Fagbemi (all Senior Advocates of Nigeria), prayed the court to grant the reliefs in their applications, seven in all.
INEC filed two, Tinubu filed three, and APC filed two.
Lawyer to the petitioners, Chris Uche (SAN), in a counter-argument, urged the tribunal to dismiss all the applications and proceed to hear his client’s application on merit.
The court then adjourned further pre-hearing session in the petition till Saturday for parties to agree on the schedule to be adopted for the hearing of the petition.
READ ALSO:
Manipulations during 2023 polls unprecedented – Atiku
It, thereafter, rose briefly to resume shortly to commence further pre-hearing in the petition by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP).
The court, after the short recess, adjourned to 10 am Saturday.
When Atiku and PDP’s lead counsel asked for some time to enable his clients to reach an agreement with the respondents on the best time for witness appearances and other issues, Tinubu and APC asked for an outright adjournment to Monday, May 22.
After both parties agreed that Monday would be best, the tribunal brought it back to Saturday, May 20, evidently not interested in wasting further time.