Atiku in court as parties adopt final addresses

By Wandoo Sombo

Abuja, Aug. 1, 2023

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, was at the Presidential Election Petition Court, (PEPC) on Tuesday as parties were set to adopt their final written addresses.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the adoption of final addresses is the precursor to fixing a date for judgment in the petition of Atiku and the PDP challenging the outcome of the Feb. 25 presidential election.

The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel of the court had on the last adjourned date directed parties to prepare their final briefs of argument and appear before it to adopt.

The court, in a notice to the parties, invited them to adopt their written address with respect to the petition filed against President Bola Tinubu and Vice -President Kashim Shettima, praying the court to nullify their election.

It will be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had on March 1, announced that Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC), won the presidential election ahead of 17 other candidates that participated in the contest.

It declared that Tinubu scored 8,794,726 votes to defeat the two major contenders, Atiku of the PDP, who came second with 6,984,520 votes, and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who came third with 6,101,533 votes.

However, dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, both Atiku and Obi approached the court to invalidate it.

The duo, in their separate petitions, claimed that they won the presidential poll, even as they challenged Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the election.

The petitioners are praying the court to nullify the election and order a fresh presidential election, with the exclusion of President Tinubu whom they argued was ab-initio, not qualified to participate.