Due to the illness of two important members of his legal team, the petition filed by the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi, against the president, Bola Tinubu, has been postponed till June 1.
Awa Kalu, SAN, the petitioners’ attorney, convinced the court to postpone further hearings in the lawsuit he filed to contest the results of the presidential election on February 25 in which Tinubu won.
The petitioners’ attorney, Kalu, SAN, informed the court on Wednesday that two important team members had unexpectedly become unwell and would not be present for the day’s proceedings.
He said that earlier preparations to present important documents to the court had been hampered by their disappearance.
He said, “My lords, our plan for today’s proceedings was to start with the presentation of our documents, but unfortunately, we had some unexpected development.
“The unexpected development concerns the sudden illness of two of our key staff, for which reason I am constrained to ask for an adjournment till tomorrow.
“It is with the greatest humility and apology that we make this application.
“I assure my lords that we will be here tomorrow morning and we will proceed with vigour.”
Responding to the development, counsel to the respondents said they were constrained to oppose the request.
Counsel for Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, told the court that he was not opposed to the request for an adjournment just as counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission, A.B Mahmoud, SAN, and counsel for the All Progressives Congress, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, acceded to the application.
In a brief ruling, the President of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani granted the application and adjourned the petition till Thursday.
