THE All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate in the 25th February 2023 election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have opposed the move to harmonize three pending petitions challenging his victory at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
Tinubu was returned elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) having polled 8,794,726 votes.
Aggrieved by 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 opposing 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.
Eighteen-Eleven Media