THE pre-hearing report on three different petitions seeking to nullify the outcome of the 25th February 2023 presidential election was presented today by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).
The court also presented the trial schedule. The Chairman of the five-man panel of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani, read the pre-hearing report which included the declaration of the court’s decision to consolidate all the petitions to be heard as one.
Following this, Justice Tsammani announced that the hearing of the petitions would commence on 30 May 2023.
Furthermore, he said after the adoption of written addresses on 5th August 2023, the court shall thereafter prepare for judgment.
This was made known when the petition of the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi was called.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had opposed the move to harmonize the three petitions challenging his victory at the court.
Tinubu was returned elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) having polled 8,794,726 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), are challenging Tinubu’s victory.
The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) is also challenging the process and outcome of the election.
The Tribunal had raised the issue of consolidating all the petitions and asked parties to address it on the issue.
At the resumed hearing on Monday, Mr Tinubu, through his team of lawyers, led by Akin Olujinmi, stated that merging all the petitions would adversely affect his ability to effectively defend all the issues raised against him by the petitioners.
“My lords, the issue of justice should be a restraint on the power of this court to exercise its discretion in granting the order for consolidation,” Olujinmi said.
“My lords, when the exercise of power is subject to the limitation of some conditions, then it cannot be said that the exercise is mandatory.
“There are issues raised in one petition that are not there in others. The issues vary. The same goes for evidential issues that are based on pleadings that have been exchanged by parties in this case.
“We want to make it clear at this stage that it will be absolutely difficult for us to consent to consolidation of the petitions.
“I most humbly urge your lordships not to grant the consolidation.”
Also opposed to the issue of consolidation, Charles Edosomwam, counsel for the APC, argued that consolidating the petitions would be against the interest of justice.
“We are opposing the consolidation of the petitions. The interest of justice will not be served by the consolidation of all of these petitions,” he said.
“The justice factor is a major issue for consideration before your lordships can arrive at a just conclusion of these matters.
“The grounds are different and the wide range of issues raised by parties are also different.
“The trial of the petitions will be unwieldy, and the substance of the case will be lost.”
INEC’s lawyer, Kemi Pinero, neither supported nor objected to the consolidation of the petitions.
Also, the Petitioners did not oppose the court’s suggestion for consolidation.
The court was still in session at the time of this report.
Eighteen-Eleven Media