Reports reaching the desk of Africa Today News, New York has that the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal Abuja will today commence pre-hearing in the petitions challenging the outcome of the 25th of February presidential election in Nigeria.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission had declared that Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress polled 8,794,726 votes to win the election which generated so many talking points.
The commission declared that Atiku came second with 6,984,520 votes, while it announced Labour Party’s Peter Obi as the second runner-up with 6,101,533 votes.
But Atiku, Obi, and some other parties rejected the results announced by INEC and approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to annul Tinubu’s victory.
Africa Today News, New York had last week reported that the tribunal would begin pre-hearing today.
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On what to expect at today’s proceedings, a senior lawyer in Tinubu’s camp, who asked not to be named, told one of our correspondents on Sunday that, ‘The only thing they will do is to schedule the hearing, the number of witnesses, how many minutes the witness will use, and how to admit the documents; that’s what they call pre-trial.
‘They are going to prepare a timetable for the hearing of the cases, the number of days to be spent by the petitioners, the number of days to be spent by the respondents, how do we take in the documents, certified true copy of the documents, are they going to be admitted like that or if there is an objection, how do we raise an objection to document?
‘Will the court write a ruling on objection immediately or will the court write it in the cause of the main judgment? Those are the things that will happen tomorrow (Monday).’
Atiku, in his 66-page petition, is praying the tribunal to declare him winner of the poll or order a fresh election.
On his part, Obi, in his petition, is also praying the tribunal to nullify Tinubu’s election.
Similarly, Atiku also filed an application for an order to allow live coverage of day-to-day proceedings on the case they brought against the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
Atiku, who came second in the presidential election held on February 25, in the motion through his team of lawyers led by Chris Uche, SAN, specifically applied for ‘An order, directing the Court’s Registry and the parties on modalities for admission of Media Practitioners and their Equipment into the courtroom.’
The PDP candidate and former Vice President contended that the petition he lodged against the President-elect, was ‘a matter of national concern and public interest.’
He argued that the case involved citizens and the electorate in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who he said voted and participated in the presidential poll.