Suspense As Presidential Election Tribunal Begins Hearing Today

Barring any last-minute changes, the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) will today May 8 commence hearing the petitions challenging the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the president-elect.

Recall that on March 1, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, declared Tinubu the winner of the February 25 presidential election, This declaration has however been rejected by two of the contending Presidential candidates, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Peter Obi of the Labour Party. In separate petitions, Obi and Atiku they asked the tribunal to grant orders to annul the election or declare them the winners of the polls.

In a 66-page petition, Atiku urged the court to cancel the election and order a fresh election due to alleged irregularities that marred the February 25 polls in thousands of polling units. In the petition filed by his legal team led by Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), the former Vice President argued that as of March 1 when Tinubu was declared the winner of the election, the entire results and accreditation data from polling units had not been transmitted and uploaded by INEC.

On his part, Obi, in his petition, argued that the election was characterized by various irregularities, citing also the alleged non-qualification of Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, to contest the election. He also alleged that Tinubu failed to win a majority of lawful votes and also one-quarter of lawful votes cast in the FCT. He equally alleged that the election was largely conducted without complying with the provision of the law.