The Presidential Election Petition Court sitting at Court of Appeal in Abuja has reserved judgment in the petitions challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu as president of Nigeria.
A five-man panel of the court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned for judgment after parties adopted their final written addresses in support and against the petition.
The panel said it would communicate
to the parties the date the judgment will be delivered.
Atiku Abubakar who attended the court sitting on Tuesday was accompanied by a retinue of his political associates and supporters.
In the petition filed jointly with his party, the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Atiku is asking the court to nullify Tinubu’s election as president over alleged irregularities, corrupt practices and substantial non-compliance with the electoral laws, among others.
INEC’s counsel Abubakar Mahmoud who was first to adopt his written addresses asked the court to dismiss the petitions on the grounds that the Petitioners failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mahmoud further argued that the glitches that hampered the electronic transmission of the results were technical issue and not man-made, saying that the Petitioners did not show any evidence to show that results were manipulated.
In the same vein, Tinubu and APC through their counsel, Wole Olanipekun and Lateef Fagbemi respectfully asked the court to dismiss the petition for lack of merit.
On the argument of the Petitioners that Tinubu did not score 25% of voters in the Federal Capital Territory FCT as stipulated in the constitution, Olanipekun argued that FCT is treated as one of the states in the country and not mandatory for presidential candidate to secure 25% of votes before he or she will be declared a winner.
After adopting his written addresses, Atiku’s Counsel, Chris Uche urged the panel to keep to its promise to deliver substantial justice and not technical justice in their petition, adding that they have fully established allegations raised in their petition through the testimonies of their witnesses as well as the documents tendered.
In the petition filed by Obi through his team of lawyers led by Livy Uzoukwu, the respondents maintained their grounds that Tinubu was elected in compliance with the electoral laws.
On the contention of Obi that Tinubu was convicted in the United States of America and therefore not qualify to be president of Nigeria, Fagbemi argued that Tinubu was not arraigned or convicted on any criminal offence but a forfeiture case that is not enough to disqualify him.
Arguing in defence of Tinubu, Olanipekun noted that in a situation whereby the court orders for a rerun, that by law Obi is not qualified to participate, adding that the law only makes provisions for the candidate that scores highest votes and the runner-up and in this case it will be between Atiku and Tinubu.
But Obi’s counsel, Livy Uzoukwu while adopting his written addresses said INEC uploaded 18,088 blurred results to the Results Viewing IReV Portals, saying that it shows a very flawed result.
Like Atiku, the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi attended the court proceedings with his running mate, Ahmed Dati, a renowned novelist, Chimamada Adiche alongside other party’s stalwarts.
With the adoption of their final written addresses concluded, the Petitioners and the respondents are no doubt awaiting the outcome of the judgment with baited breath.
End
