…We’re Not Under Pressure, Says APC
The much-anticipated verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPT) is expected to be delivered on Wednesday, September 6th.
The Court of Appeal Registrar Umar Bangari confirmed this to Channels Television on Monday, saying the proceedings will be open to live broadcast by interested television stations.
The Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), as well as their presidential candidates, had petitioned the tribunal seeking to nullify the election of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
Judgement is also expected to be delivered by election tribunals in 25 states for governorship, National Assembly, and state assembly election petitions.
The results of the polls announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are being contested in no fewer than 25 states out of the 28 states where elections were conducted.
The presidential election petition tribunal had reserved judgment after the petitioners- the Peoples Democratic Party and its standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi and the Labour Party closed their cases in June after calling 40 out of the 150 witnesses earlier listed in their petitions challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress and the President.
While Tinubu’s lawyer prayed for a successful outcome, Atiku’s legal team admonished the tribunal to “shun executive intimidation and dispense judgment on the matter.’’
A member of the President’s legal team, Yusuf Ali, SAN, said he was hopeful of victory.
He said, “We pray for success at the end of the day. Cases are conducted in the court and not in the media, either social or mass media. The court listens to facts and applies the law.”
The Director of Publicity for the APC, Bala Ibrahim, denied that the ruling party was under any form of pressure and expressed confidence that justice would be served.
He said, “Which pressure? The ruling party has already delivered, unlike the Labour Party which is still groaning in labour. The pressure is on them. Obviously, anyone that is in labour is likely to be under pressure.’’
But a member of Atiku’s legal team, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, urged the tribunal to dispense justice on the matter.
He said Nigerians and the international community were watching them.
Ozekhome said, “Not for judgment date yet. I expect justice to be done. I expect the tribunal to shun blaring sirens of power or executive intimidation to do justice. I expect the tribunal to know that Nigerians, the international community, and indeed the whole world are watching.”
Weighing in, the PDP expressed confidence in the ability of the tribunal justices to dispense justice.
On the party’s expectations from the tribunal, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Ibrahim Abdullahi, simply said “Success,” without making further comments.
But a loyalist of Atiku and Deputy National Youth Leader of the PDP, Timothy Osadolor, argued that given the weight of evidence before the tribunal, the party and the former vice president had every reason to hope that justice would prevail.
Similarly, the National Legal Adviser of the Labour Party, Kehinde Edun, submitted that the party was hopeful about the outcome of the judgment.
“We are confident and hopeful about the outcome. The party has done everything it ought to do. That’s why we are optimistic. We believe strongly in the judiciary. It is the only way our country can remain strong. When you lose hope, then it is over. It means you are now calling for anarchy. LP has come too far to lose hope at this stage. We have to continue to hope and believe they do the right thing,” the lawyer noted.
It was learnt that petitioners and respondents would this week adopt their final written addresses in a petition filed by the PDP governorship candidate, Ladi Adebutu, against the election of Governor Dapo Abiodun of the PDP. Abiodun got 276,298 votes while his PDP counterpart garnered 262,383 votes.
When contacted, the Ogun State PDP Secretary, Dr Sunday Solarin, said the party expected the tribunal to be fair.
He said, “The PDP is expecting justice to be done to the petition brought to the tribunal. We have done all that is expected of us to do; we have confronted the tribunal with adequate evidence, and we have argued properly.’’
Similarly, the state APC Publicity Secretary, Tunde Oladunjoye, said the party expected justice from the tribunal.
When asked if the party and its candidate were nursing any fear, Oladunjoye maintained, “I still stand on my first word which is justice. That is all I have to say.”
