The Presidential Election Petition Court dismissed an attempt to discard the Allied Peoples Movement petition challenging the qualification of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.
This followed a recent verdict by the Supreme Court, which ruled in a similar matter it filed before the PEPC.
Counsel for Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, informed the court on May 30 of the judgement, which, according to him, appears to have resolved the same issue the APM has brought before the court.
He had referenced the Supreme Court’s decision of Friday, May 26, that dismissed the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, which prayed the court to nullify the ticket that produced the president and his vice, Kassim Shettima, on grounds of double nomination.
Olanipekun sought to know if the decision of the Apex Court does not affect the case of the APM, which is also challenging the outcome of the election on the grounds of using a placeholder, Kabir Masari, for the elected vice-president, Kassim Shettima.
At the resumed hearing on the petition on Monday, counsel for APM, G.A. Ijiagbonya, informed the court that he still wants to go ahead with the case despite Olanikpekun’s reminder of the apex court’s judgement.
Ijiagbonya said he has received the Supreme Court judgement sought to be used to terminate APM’s petition.
He, however, sought a one-week adjournment to obtain a vital document from the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Following this, the chairman of the five-man panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, held that the party cannot be shut out in the face of a fair hearing.
Justice Tsammani asked Tinubu to keep his objections against the hearing of the petition until the final address stage of the court’s proceedings.
Similar objections raised by APC, through its counsel, Charles Edosomwen, SAN, against the petition on the same ground were turned down by PEPC for the same reason.
In a brief ruling, Justice Tsammani fixed Wednesday, June 21, for the hearing of the petition.
The APM, through its legal team, said it would open and close the case on the same day.
The party will also call one private witness to testify in aid of the petition against Tinubu.
(Punch)
