The Supreme Court has fixed Thursday, October 26, 2023, as the date to deliver judgement in the cases of the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Bola Tinubu.

 

The Supreme Court on Monday, October 23, had its hearing into the appeals filed by the PDP presidential candidate and his LP counterpart challenging the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) that upheld Tinubu’s electoral victory

 

The judgement date was confirmed by all parties involved.

 

 

The highest court in Nigeria, the Supreme Court, has denied reports some judges withdrew from the electoral cases of Mr Peter Obi and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar against President Bola Tinubu.

 

Some online platforms reported an alleged crisis in the court due to the purported refusal of some members of the panel to participate, claiming that five of the seven Justices pulled out of the case.

 

But the Supreme Court says that the panel is not going through any issues and was prepared to hear the cases on Monday, October 23.

“This is not true. The panel is ready. You will see all the Justices tomorrow (today). There is no crisis anywhere, as claimed by those online platforms.

“I assure you that the panel is intact and will hear the appeals on Monday,” Supreme Court’s Director, Press and information, Dr. Festus Akande, said.

Ahead of the hearings, security measures have been put in place and entry into the courtroom will be restricted.

 

The Labour Party and its presidential candidate in the February 25th presidential election, Peter Obi, has filed an appeal against the September 6, 2023 ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) at the Supreme Court.

Labour Party’s lawyers led by Livy Uzokwu (SAN) approached the Supreme court on 51 grounds which they “termed an error in law to prove that President Bola Tinubu who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not win the election and that it was wrong for both INEC and the PEPC to declare him winner of the election when many incontrovertible points were proving otherwise.”

The National Publicity Secretary of Labour Party, Obiora Ifoh said this in a statement on Tuesday, September 19

 

The statement reads: 

“In their reliefs Obi and the Labour Party sought from the apex Court, four key points; Allow the Appeal, set aside the perverse Judgment of the PEPC, and grant the Reliefs sought in the petition, either in the main or in the alternative.

 

“On the issue of the 25% requirement for Abuja, Obi and the Labour Party listed the particulars of error by the PEPC as follows. That the PEPC failed to appreciate that for the President to assume the office or position of the Governor of Abuja, is also under a mandate to secure 25% of the votes cast in the FCT.

 

“They also accused the PEPC of overlooking the fuller purport of section 299 which will be more glaring on a calm examination of section 301 of the constitution

 

“No date yet has been fixed for the hearing of the case.”

 

 

The legal team of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar on Friday confirmed that it had received the Certified True Copies of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court.

The same was for the legal team of the flagbearer of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25, 2023 election, Peter Obi.

Our source recalls that the presidential tribunal on Wednesday had ruled out the petition filed by Atiku and Obi against President Bola Tinubu’s victory.

Atiku and Obi in their reaction to the court ruling vowed to approach the Supreme Court.

According to Punch, the lead counsel to Obi, Dr Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) confirmed on the telephone that he had received a copy of the judgment.

He said, “I have a copy of the judgment; they are scanning it at the moment.”

Also, Atiku’s lead counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), confirmed the development of the platform.

He said while responding to a text message sent to him, “Yes; we have just received it.”

Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, had in a statement issued earlier on Friday slammed the PEPC for allegedly failing to release the certified copies of the judgment to the former vice president’s legal team.

Shaibu had claimed, “By not making available to Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Certified True Copies of the judgment of Wednesday for its filings at the Supreme Court, the Presidential Election Petition Court is undermining Atiku’s and Nigerians’ quest for justice.”

A copy of the judgment went viral on social media on Friday.

The 798-page document was signed by the Secretary of the PEPC and dated September 8, 2023.