The Supreme Court has scheduled Thursday, October 26, 2023, for the judgement on the appeals filed by the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, against President Bola Tinubu, News About Nigeria reports.
The PDP presidential candidate and the Labour Party candidate lodged appeals at the Supreme Court challenging the September 6 ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), which upheld Tinubu’s electoral victory.
The judgement date fixed by the Supreme Court has been confirmed by all parties involved in the case on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court, during its last sitting on Monday, reserved judgement in the appeal filed by Atiku and his party, as well as Peter Obi and the Labour Party, against the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Court, which affirmed Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential poll.
Justice Inyang Okoro, the leader of the seven-member panel of the court, announced after counsels to the parties adopted their briefs of argument and made final submissions that the date of judgement would be communicated to them.
Peter Obi and the Labour Party, through their lead counsel, Livy Uzokwu (SAN), appealed to the court to disqualify Tinubu on the grounds that he did not win the 2023 Presidential Election and was not qualified to run in the first place.
Atiku and the PDP, represented by their Lead Counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), also appealed to the Apex Court to accept fresh evidence regarding Tinubu’s alleged forged documents from Chicago State University (CSU). They further urged the court to grant their prayers, seeking to disqualify Tinubu, the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25 poll.
However, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), the lead counsel for President Tinubu, and Akin Olujinmi for the APC urged the court to dismiss both the motion and appeal by the parties for lacking merit.
The counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abubakar Mahmoud, also prayed for the dismissal of the appeals by both parties.
