Following an adjournment by the Presidential Petition Election Court, the hearing of the defence filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is now slated for Tuesday, July 4th.
Respondents have been directed by the court to begin presenting their defense on Monday, July 3rd in response to the petition filed by aggrieved parties contesting the outcome of the February 25th election, which resulted in Bola Tinubu’s presidency.
The scheduled plan indicated that on Monday morning, the Electoral Commission was expected to present their counterarguments in response to the petition filed by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
A.B. Mahmoud, SAN, counsel for INEC, shared with the court during Monday’s proceedings that the commission had arranged for three witnesses to give their testimonies in support of their defense.
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He told the court that, unfortunately, the witness who was supposed to provide testimony was unable to attend the proceedings due to unavoidable circumstances.
As a result, he asked for the court’s approval to defer the matter to the following day.
In response to the request, the Presidential Petition Election Court (PEPC), led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, granted the adjournment, taking into account the agreement of other parties involved in the case.
Legal proceedings are underway as three parties and their candidates contest the results of the presidential election in court.
The petitioners involved in challenging the presidential election results are the LP (Labour Party) with their candidate, Obi; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with their candidate, Atiku Abubakar; and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
The parties, accompanied by their respective candidates, have jointly filed separate petitions in court, summoning the electoral commission, the president, his vice-president Kassim Shetima, and their party, the APC.
Their case was concluded on June 23, granting the opportunity for the respondents in the matter to put forth their defense before the court.