Obi, Lalong Present As Presidential Election Tribunal Begins Pre-Hearing
Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi was at the pre-hearing of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja on Monday.
Also present in court was the governor of Plateau State, Mr Simon Lalong, who was also present to observe the proceedings of the day.
The tribunal will be hearing petitions challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress polled 8,794,726 votes to win the election. While Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party came second with 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi was third with 6,101,533 votes.
Not satisfied with the outcome, Atiku and Obi approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to annul Tinubu’s victory.
From the Cause list, the unveiling of the tribunal, the first case to be adjudicated, is the Action Alliance (AA) and its Presidential Candidate in the election, Solomon David Okanigbuan notifying the tribunal of their intentions to withdraw their petition against the declaration of Tinubu as Nigeria’s President-elect after the unveiling of the tribunal.
Other petitions slated for the pre-hearing session are those of the Action People’s Party (APP) which has Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as three respondents.
It would be followed by that of Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 with INEC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Kashim Shetima and APC as four respondents.
The Allied People’s Movement (APM) would proceed next against Tinubu.
Defendants in APM’s petition are INEC, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Kashim Shetima and one Kabir Masari.
Atiku Abubakar and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) marked CA/ PEPC/05/2023, would be treated last and has INEC, Tinubu Bola Ahmed and the APC as three respondents.
