THE Supreme Court will deliver its final verdict on the petition filed by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, on Thursday, October 26.
The two petitions contest whether President Bola Tinubu’s announcement as the winner of the last presidential election is legitimate or not.
The Director of Press and Information for the Supreme Court, Festus Akande, confirmed the news on Wednesday, October 25.
Akande noted that sufficient security measures have been implemented to prevent security breaches within and outside the court premises.
The ICIR reported that the Supreme Court reserved judgment in the petition by Abubakar, seeking to void Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the February 25, 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.
Through his lawyers, led by Chris Uche, Abubakar agued at the court that Tinubu should be sacked from the 2023 presidential race.
According to Abubakar, Tinubu was not eligible to run for office at the time specified by the Constitution.
Uche 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 ICIR reports that the Supreme Court also deferred ruling on Peter Obi of the Labour Party’s appeal after dismissing the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) appeal.
While adopting his written briefs, the lawyer to Obi and LP, Livy Uzoukwu, prayed to the Court to allow the appeal and grant the reliefs sought.
Abubakar Mahmoud, Akin Olujimi and Wole Olanipekun, lawyers for INEC, Tinubu, Shettima and APC, respectively, urged the Court to dismiss the appeal for lackin
A reporter with the ICIR
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