The Allied Peoples Movement, APM, one of the parties seeking to nullify the election of President Bola Tinubu has closed its case after presenting one witness before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja.
The witness, Aisha Abubakar, an Assistant Welfare Director of the party, tendered seven batches of documentary evidence before the court to establish their case that Tinubu was not qualified to participate in the 2023 presidential election.
Respondents in the matter did not oppose the admissibility of the documents, prompting the chairman of the five-man panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani to admit in evidence and marked as exhibits.
The court had on May 30, suspended hearing of the APM petition after Tinubu’s counsel Wole Olanipekun drew its attention to a judgement of the Supreme Court which he said settled the issue the APM raised in its petition.
Olanipekun, maintained that an appeal the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, filed against Tinubu which was dismissed by the Supreme Court, bordered on the legality or otherwise of his client’s nomination to contest the election by the APC.
He argued that the said judgement of the apex court touches on the substance of APM’s petition.
Meanwhile, the Justice Tsammani-led panel adjourned the matter till July 14 for all the parties to adopt their final briefs of argument, after which the court will fix a date to deliver its judgement.
Specifically, the APM, in its petition is contending that the withdrawal of Mr. Masari, who was initially nominated as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the APC, invalidated Tinubu’s candidacy in view of Section 131(c) and 142 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
