…gives Opposition Deadline to Prove Cases
By Udesinanna Stephen
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPET) has instructed the combination of the petitions of the Labour Party, the Allied People’s Movement (APM) and the Peoples Democratic (Party), challenging the declaration of All Progressives Congress (APC’s) candidate, Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 Presidential election.
The Chief Judge, Justice Haruna Tsammani, made this known after yesterday’s court proceedings saying that the combination of the cases is targeted at fastening the hearing of the petitions, citing that the petitions of the opposition parties are alike.
“In line with paragraph 50 of the First Scheduled of the Electoral Act, 2022, justice demands that this petition be consolidated with CA/PEPC/04/2023 and CA /PEPC /05/2023 and be dealt with as one petition since it relates to the same election and return,” Justice Tsammani said.
Meanwhile, Tinubu and the APC had objected to the merging of the petitions on Monday, arguing that it was not on fairground but at their disadvantage.
The pre-hearing session is over, and according to the Court, there was no request for an extension of the pre-hearing session; hence, the hearing of the combined petitions has been fixed for May 30, with the petitioners having three weeks to prove their petitions against the emergence of APC’s Tinubu as the winner of the presidential poll.
Also, Justice Tsammani said the petitioners to commence their case on Tuesday, May 30, were expected to end on June 23, and the respondents will open their defenses of the election.
“While the respondents in the case of LP will close their case on July 10, with final adoption by all parties fixed for August 5, in the case of APM and PDP, the respondents are to close June 6 and July 16, respectively and adopt on July 3 and August 8, 2023.” The Nations gathered.
