THE Supreme Court has reserved judgment in the petition by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, seeking to void the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court led by John Inyang Okoro on Monday, October 23, disclosed the reservation of the judgment after taking arguments from lawyers in the matter.
Okoro said parties would be communicated as soon as the judgment date is fixed.
Atiku, through his lawyers led by Chris Uche, argued at the Court that President Tinubu should be sacked from the 2023 presidential race.
According to Atiku, Tinubu was not eligible to run for office at the time specified by the Constitution.
Uche, SAN, requested that the Supreme Court apply the Constitution’s provisions to nullify Tinubu’s election results.
He claimed that Tinubu had forged certificates and lied under oath.
Atiku pleaded with the Court to request a rerun between him and Tinubu if the President was not disqualified.
The former Vice President had accused Tinubu of forging certificates and lying on oath, but Tinubu, through his lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, requested that the Court dismiss the accusations
The senior counsel insisted that until Atiku’s claims are proven beyond a reasonable doubt, as required by law, they are baseless and have no probate value.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), represented by Abubakar Mahmoud, also argued that Atiku’s petition should be rejected on the grounds that it lacked merit
Following Olanipekun’s lead, the APC lawyer, Akin Olujinmi, also demanded that the petition be dismissed.
The ICIR reports that the Supreme Court is also hearing the appeal of the Labour Party (LP) and its Presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance
