In the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja, one of the five petitions challenging Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 poll was dismissed on Monday, News About Nigeria reports.
The petitioner’s lawyer withdrew the case, leading to its dismissal by a five-member panel led by Haruna Tsammani.
This particular petition was the first to be called for a hearing among the five petitions received by the court.
During the court’s inaugural sitting, they assured all parties involved in the case that they would ensure justice was served.
The lawyers present expressed their commitment to cooperate with the court. After the ceremonial opening, the panel members took a short break and then proceeded to hear the case brought by the Action Alliance (AA) party.
However, confusion arose when the party’s case was called, as there was uncertainty about who the legal representative of the party was.
Oba Maduabuchi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, initially announced his appearance as the lawyer for the AA party.
Another lawyer, Malachi Umuebe, also claimed to represent the party. The court disregarded Mr. Umuebe’s claim since he did not file the petition. Mr. Maduabuchi was recognized as the party’s lawyer.
However, shortly after being recognized, he announced the withdrawal of the case.
The lawyers representing the respondents, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, representing Mr. Tinubu, and Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, representing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had no objection to the withdrawal of the petition.
Consequently, the court dismissed the petition.
However, the Action Alliance has called on the court to nullify the polls due to the alleged refusal of INEC to upload the name of its actual presidential candidate, Solomon-David Okanigbuan, to its portal for the February poll.
The National Chairman of the Action Alliance, Adekunle Omo-Aje, had previously stated that Hamza Al-Mustapha, recognized by INEC, was not the authentic presidential candidate of the party.
This issue arose from a leadership dispute within the party, which resulted in the emergence of two presidential candidates.
