Tribunal plans to combine petitions of Atiku, Obi against Tinubu

The three separate petitions seeking to overturn the results of the 2023 presidential election will be merged, according to the Presidential Election Petition Court, which is based in Abuja.

The court claimed that paragraph 50 of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act gave it the authority to combine all the petitions and make a decision on them all at once.

Abubakar Mahmood, SAN, who served as the Independent National Electoral Commission’s lead attorney, testified in support of this judgment by saying, “We are happy with the provision of the law and we are also happy with whatever position your lordships will take with respect to this matter.”

My lords, I personally believe that the provision is required, Mahmood continued. It was explicitly stated that, unless the court orders otherwise, all petitions filed to invalidate the same election or return must be consolidated if there are two or more of them.

Chris Uche, SAN, the lead attorney for Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, asked for more time to consult with his client.

“My lords, we won’t deny that we’ve looked at it, but it might need to be discussed with the other petitioners.

In light of the fact that this is similar to marriage, which is a union between two consenting adults, Uche continued, “We, therefore, ask for a stand down or an adjournment so that we can explore the modalities.

The lead attorney for the president-elect, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, stated that he would also need time to consult with the counsel for the vice president-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima, who also appeared on behalf of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu.

The five-member panel, presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, then decided to postpone the case until Monday so that all parties could report the results of their consultations regarding whether or not to combine all the petitions.