The Supreme Court has fixed Thursday, October 26, 2023, as the date to deliver judgement in the appeals filed by the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
The Director of Information of the Supreme Court, Festus Akande, confirmed the date to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday.
Atiku and Obi are challenging the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) which dismissed their election petitions challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential poll and affirmed the election of President Bola Tinubu.
The apex court had, on Monday, reserved judgement after hearing the appeals of Obi and Atiku challenging the judgement of the PEPC that affirmed Tinubu’s victory.
The tribunal, on September 6, dismissed Atiku and Obi’s petitions for lacking merit and affirmed the election of President Tinubu.
Miffed by the judgement, the duo approached the Supreme Court asking it to overturn the judgement of the tribunal in their favour.
In Atiku’s notice of appeal predicated on 35 grounds, he told the apex court that the PEPC erred on the side of law in the judgement delivered by the chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani.
Atiku, through his lead counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), told the court that the judgement of the tribunal was a miscarriage of justice.
READ ALSO: Supreme Court reserves judgement in Atiku, Obi’s appeals against Tinubu
He argued that the lower court also erred in law when it failed to nullify the 2023 presidential election on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
According to him, by the evidence before the court, INEC conducted the election based on grave and gross misrepresentation contrary to the principles of the Electoral Act, 2022, based on the doctrine of legitimate expectation.
Specifically, Atiku asked the Supreme Court to set aside the whole findings and conclusions of the tribunal on the grounds that they did not represent the true picture of the grounds of his petition.
Obi, on the other hand through his lead counsel, Levi Uzoukwu (SAN), prayed the apex court to set aside the judgement of the PEPC that dismissed his petition.
Uzoukwu prayed the court to allow the appeal of his client and grant all the prayers sought.
In their responses, the counsel for the respondents – the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) – urged the court to dismiss the appeals for want of merit and for being frivolous.
Tinubu’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), described the appeals as lacking in merit.
Olanipekun told the court that the appeal filed by Atiku was abusive in nature and asked the court to dismiss it.
The counsel for INEC, Mahmoud Yakubu (SAN) and Akin Olujimi also asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeals for want of merit.
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