Presidential Election Petitions Court Fix May 8 for Hearing
The hearing date for the petitions contesting the proclamation of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the president-elect has been set by the Presidential Election Petitions Court for Monday, May 8.
Monday’s hearing is a pre-hearing, according to Tinubu’s legal counsel. Before the main hearing begins, the hearing will determine whether any applications have been made. The hearing on the substantive matters will have a predetermined schedule.
The court also stopped receiving replies from the petitioners on April 23.
Recall that the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party who came second and third in the 2023 presidential race had submitted separate petitions asking for the election to be declared invalid or for them to be declared the winners.
As announced by Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu had polled 8.8 million to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 6.9 million, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) who amassed 6.1 million and 15 others.
Meanwhile, the PDP presidential candidate requested that the Presidential Election Tribunal proclaim him the winner on five different grounds in his seven pleas.
Atiku and the PDP claimed in their petition that INEC had not transmitted and posted all of the election results and accreditation data from the polling unit as of March 1, when Tinubu was proclaimed the winner. The former vice president also added that the poll was marred by irregularities.
On his part, Obi said that there were numerous anomalies in the election, including Tinubu and his running mate Kashim Shettima not being eligible to participate.
Additionally, he claimed that Tinubu did not receive a majority of the valid votes cast in the election and that he did not receive at least one-fourth of the valid votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory.
