Tribunal: Court adjourns INEC’s defence to July 4

The hearing of the defence filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the Presidential Petition Election Court has been adjourned to Tuesday, July 4.

Previously, the court had set Monday, July 3, for the respondents to present their case in defense of the petition filed by aggrieved parties challenging the outcome of the February 25 election, in which Bola Tinubu was declared the president.

As per the schedule, INEC was supposed to present their argument against the petition filed by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on Monday morning.

However, during the proceedings, A.B Mahmoud, SAN, the counsel for INEC, informed the court that one of the scheduled witnesses was unavoidably absent.

Consequently, Mahmoud requested that the matter be postponed to the following day. Hence, the court has decided to reconvene on Tuesday, July 4, to proceed with the hearing.

The PEPC headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani heeded the request following the agreement of other parties in the case.

Three aggrieved parties and their candidates are challenging the outcome of the presidential election in court.

The petitioners are the LP and Obi; the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the Allied Peoples Movement.

Following, the parties, together with their candidates in separate petitions dragged the electoral commission, the president, his Vice – Kassim Shetima and their party, the APC to court.

They had closed their case on June 23, leaving the stage for respondents in the matter to table their defence before the court.