The Presidential Election Petition Court has merged the petitions of Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar seeking to nullify the emergence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president-elect.
The chairman of the five-man panel of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani, read the pre-hearing report which included the declaration of the court’s decision to consolidate all the petitions to be heard as one.
Following this, Tsammani announced that the hearing of the petition would commence on May 30, 2023.
Furthermore, he said after the adoption of written addresses on August 5, 2023, the court shall thereafter prepare for judgement.
Recall that the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, expressed support for the Presidential Tribunal Election’s motion to harmonise all three cases submitted to challenge Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 elections,
This was revealed on Monday by Atiku’s legal team, led by Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, who stated that the petitions’ enormous importance warranted a prompt hearing.
The former Vice President noted various provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 that granted the court the authority to merge applications for expedited disposition in the interest of justice.
He had argued that, while being submitted by separate parties, the three petitions were all aimed at the same 2023 presidential election and the same pronouncement of Tinubu as winner.
“The petitions from their contents and foundation are flying together with equal force to the same direction of righting the wrongs in the election”, he said.
According to the former vice president, it is natural and acceptable for the Court to do everything in its power and under the law to bring justice to the parties.
He asked the Court to dismiss Tinubu’s and the APC’s objections, claiming that their goal was to delay the hearing of the petitions against natural justice.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC represented by Chief Kemi Pinheiro, SAN said it would abide by the decision of the Court.
The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, objected to the attempt by the opposition to merge all three petitions filed against their victory in the 2023 presidential election.
The objection was made by Tinubu’s legal team, led by Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, who claimed that combining all of the petitions would jeopardise his ability to adequately defend all of the points brought by the petitioners.
