…By Henry George for TDPel Media.
The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has deferred its rulings on the applications made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President-elect Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
These applications sought the dismissal of the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
On May 5, the PDP and Atiku’s legal team, led by Chris Uche (SAN), submitted an application requesting that the tribunal allow the proceedings to be televised.
They argued that the petitions against Tinubu were of significant public interest, involving millions of Nigerian citizens and voters who have a constitutional right to be part of the proceedings.
In response, INEC, Tinubu, and the APC filed a counter-application, urging the court to either dismiss the entire petition or certain paragraphs and accompanying processes filed by the petitioners on the grounds of violating the law.
After hearing arguments from the lawyers representing each party, Justice Tsammani announced that the rulings on the applications would be reserved and delivered on the day of judgment for the main petition.
During the proceedings, lawyers representing INEC, Tinubu, and the APC—Kemi Pinheiro, Yusuf Ali, and Lateef Fagbemi—presented their arguments and requested the court to grant the reliefs sought in their applications, totaling seven in number.
However, Uche (SAN), in his counter-argument, urged the court to dismiss all the applications and proceed to hear his clients’ case on its merits.
The court has adjourned further pre-hearing sessions in the petition until Saturday, allowing the parties to reach an agreement on the schedule for the hearing of the petition.
The court briefly rose but will reconvene shortly to continue further pre-hearing proceedings in the petition brought forth by the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.