The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, in the recently concluded presidential election, is not present at the tribunal hearing.
At 9:34 am, when Justice Haruna Tsammani, the chairman of the tribunal, asked for the introduction of the petitioners and respondents, Julius Abure, the embattled chairman of the LP, noted that he was representing the petitioner, Peter Obi.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima identified himself as the first responder, accompanied by the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje.
According to reports, Wednesday’s judgment will be delivered by the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Haruna Tsammani, assisted by other members of the panel: Justices Stephen Adah, Monsurat Bolaji-Yusuf, Moses Ugo, and Abba Mohammed.
The petitions, marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023, CA/PEPC/05/2023, and CA/PEPC/04/2023, were lodged before the court by the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi; a former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; as well as the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, respectively.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced on March 1 that Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), had won the presidential election held on February 25. Tinubu won the election by defeating 17 other candidates.
The announcement revealed that Tinubu secured a combined 8,794,726 votes, surpassing the two primary challengers. Alhaji Atiku of the PDP secured second place with a total of 6,984,520 votes, while Mr. Obi of the LP claimed third place with a total of 6,101,533 votes.
Unhappy with the election results, both Atiku and Obi approached the court to have it invalidated.