The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court, sitting in Abuja to dismiss the petition by the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, seeking to nullify his election victory.
Tinubu, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, maintained that the petition was bereft of merit and substance.
This came as the court adjourned till Thursday, to enable Tinubu respond to an application seeking an order to allow live coverage of day-to-day proceedings on petitions seeking to nullify his election.
The APM had in its petition, had contended that the withdrawal of Mr. Ibrahim Masari, who was initially nominated as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, invalidated Tinubu’s candidacy in view of Section 131(c) and 142 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The party argued that there was a gap of about three weeks between the period that Masari, who was listed as the 5th respondent in the petition, expressed intention to withdraw, the actual withdrawal of his purported nomination, and the time Tinubu purportedly replaced him with Senator Kashim Shettima.
It further argued that Tinubu’s candidature had elapsed as at the time he nominated Shettima as Masari’s replacement.
According to the petitioner, as at the time Tinubu announced Shettima as the Vice Presidential candidate, “He was no longer in a position, constitutionally, to nominate a running mate since he had ceased to be a presidential candidate of the 2nd respondent having regards to the provisions of Section 142 of the 1999 Constitution.”
It, therefore, prayed the court to declare that Shettima was not qualified to contest as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the APC as at February 25, when the election was conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, having violated the provisions of Section 35 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
“An order nullifying and voiding all the votes scored by Tinubu in the presidential election in view of his non-qualification as a candidate of the APC”.
The APC had on May 8, filed a preliminary objection to challenge the competence of the petition which it urged the court to dismiss in its entirety for lacking in merit.
Similarly, both Tinubu and Shettima, who are 3rd and 4th respondents, asked the court to either strike out or dismiss the petition.
Tinubu stressed that the petitioner failed to establish a reasonable cause of action to warrant the nullification of his election victory.
Meanwhile, when the matter came up, yesterday, the party, through its team of lawyers led by Mr. M. O . Atoyebi, SAN, adopted answers it filed on April 21, in response to pre-hearing information sheet that was issued by the court.
Whereas Mr. Abukabar Mahmood, SAN, led the team of eight SAN that appeared for the INEC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, represented the APC while Mr. Yomi Aliyu appeared for Masari.
After all the parties adopted their answers, the five-member panel of the court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned further pre-hearing session on the petition till Thursday.
The court directed all the parties to identify all applications and documents they would either concede to or object to during full-blown hearing of the matter.
The panel equally directed the parties to outline issues to be determined in the petition.
Tinubu seeks time to react to Atiku’s request for live coverage
In an application, dated May 5, former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the presidential election that held on February 25, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had through his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, urged the court to grant permission for proceedings in the petition he lodged to challenge the return of Tinubu as winner of the election, to be televised.
In his response, Tinubu, through his lead counsel, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, while confirming receipt of the application, said he would need time to respond to it.
“My Lords, my immediate response is that he will hear from us within the time allowed by the rules,” he added.
Likewise, counsel that represented APC, Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, noted that the petitioners served him with the on Monday, adding “We are taking steps to respond appropriately to the application within the time permitted by rules of this court.”
Earlier, INEC, also confirmed that it was served with the application.
Meanwhile, the Justice Tsanammi-led five-member panel adjourned further pre-hearing proceedings on Atiku’s petition till Thursday.
It ordered all the parties to sort out all the documents they would either concede to or object to, as well as key issues to be considered with respect to the petition.
The court held that it would hear the application for live coverage of its proceedings, once all the Respondents file their responses.
