Obi closes petition against Tinubu
Mr Peter Obi and his Labour Party (LP) on Friday closed their petition before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu.
The petitioners were given 21 days to prove their case against the respondents, which included the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
During the course of the proceedings, the petitioners called 13 witnesses out of the 50 they initially intended to present. One of their witnesses, Yunusa Tanko, a member of the LP Situation Room, testified and claimed that the election results given to them were mutilated and unreadable. Tanko also stated that their party had over 130,000 party agents during the election, and there were 176,974 polling units throughout the country.
The respondents, represented by different counsels, cross-examined the witness and tendered judgments from the Federal High Court and the Supreme Court. The petitioners objected to the admissibility of these documents, reserving their reasons for their final written addresses. However, the court admitted and marked the documents as exhibits.
After the testimony of another witness, Peter Yari, an ad-hoc staff of INEC, the petitioners’ counsel informed the court that they were closing their case. The respondents then requested time to celebrate the Sallah festival with their families and asked for the next hearing date to be scheduled for July 3.
The court, presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, granted the respondents’ request and adjourned the proceedings until July 3 for the respondents to present their case.
