TRIBUNAL: Petition Court Adjourns INEC’s Defense To July 4

The hearing of the defense submitted by the Independent National Electoral Commission has been postponed by the Presidential Petition Election Court until Tuesday, July 4.

The court set Monday, July 3 for respondents to present their case in defense of the petition brought by retaliating parties contesting the results of the February 25 election in which Bola Tinubu won the presidency. This date was set by the court on June 23.

The electoral commission was scheduled to present their case against the petition submitted by the Labour Party and its candidate for president, Peter Obi, on Monday morning.

A.B. Mahmoud, SAN, the attorney representing INEC, revealed to the court during Monday’s hearings that the commission had paid three witnesses to testify in support of their defense.

However, he said that the witness who was scheduled to testify was unavoidably absent from the court.

He thereafter sought that the matter be moved to the next day.

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.