Di Presidential Election Petition Court wey dey sit for Court of Appeal Abuja, Nigeria capital say hearing of di 2023 Presidential Election Petitions wey Peter Obi of Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar of di Peoples Democratic Party and di Allied Peoples Movement (APM) carry come go begin on 30 May, 2023.
Di petitions dey challenge di victory of president-elect, Bola Tinubu for di 25 February presidential elections.
Court join all di petitions of di three petitioners into one sake of say all of dem resemble and dem dey tok about almost di same issues.
Dem go hear di case togeda to save time but di three petitioners go still maintain dia identities.
“Di hearing go start from 30 May, 2023 to 5 August, 2023 wen court go adopt all di tins wey di petitioners and di respondents present before di court, den wait for judgement.” Justice Haruna Tsamani tok.
Court say dem no go extend di time.
Time frame for hearing and witnesses
Di Presidential Election Petition Court give Peter Obi, di presidential candidate of Labour Party, wey also be di petitioner three weeks to prove im case.
Peter Obi get three weeks from 30 May to 23 June, 2023 to prove im case.
Time to bring evidence go close on 10 July and by 5 August dem go adopt all di addresses wey all di parties present and wait for judgement.
Peter Obi through im lead counsel, Livy Ozoukwu, SAN bin tell court say dem need 7 weeks to prove dia case wit 50 witnesses, but court only give dem three weeks.
Court give Inec, Tinubu , Shettima and APC wey be 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents 5 days to prove dia case while 4th respondent Kabiru Masari get only 3 days to defend imsef.
Number of Witnesses
For di report of di pre-hearing wey lead Judge of di five-man panel, Justice Haruna Tsamani read, e say na total of 83 witnesses all di parties go bring come court.
All parties also agree say dem go call expert witnesses and dem go rely on di documents wey dem present for di pre-hearing and dem no go reject Certified True Copies (CTC) of documents from Inec.
Dem reserve dia respective rights to torchlight and reject all oda documents.
Dem no argue about out of court settlement, oral examination of witnesses no go dey sake of say di tins di witnesses wan tok for dia mouth orally, dem don already write am for paper as document.
Court give 30 minutes for examination and 20 minutes for re-examination, 10 minutes for Examination-in-Chief and dem go dey strict with time.
Interlocutory Applications
Court say na 11 interlocutory injunctions dem bring, and 7 issues for settlement.
On ruling of di interlocutory Applications wey di respondents file to remove some paragraphs of di petitions, Justice Haruna Tsamani reserve di ruling until di final judgement.
Lead counsel to Peter Obi and Labour Party, Livy Uzoukwu, SAN tell tori pipo say ”We go try to use dis three weeks prove our case”
Im tell tori pipo say di Swearing-in wey go happen on 29 May, 2023 no go affect justice.
“We no wan jump into issues, if court rule in favour of our petition and pesin dey di sit already, e no mean anytin, dem go remove am from di seat, e don happen for Malawi, e don happun for Kenya, I no see why e no fit happun for our kontri”
How oda petition waka
Justice Haruna Tsamani make am clear say all di petitions go start on di same day wey be 30 May, 2023 but dem no go end di same day.
Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party petition hearing go end on 20 June, 2023.
Atiku Abubakar of di Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) get three week to prove im case with 100 witnesses. tokAtiku inside im joint petition with di Peoples Democratic Party tok say di declaration of Bola Tinubu as winner of di presidential election “dey invalid ske of say dem no comply with wetin dey inside di Electoral Act 2022”.
Him dey argue say di election of Bola Tinubu dey invalid sake of mago-mago.
Atiku dey also pray di court to declara am winner of di presidential election sake of say na him get di second highest vote.
Atiku and di PDP also apply make dem withdraw di Certificate of Return wey Inec don already give Bola Tinubu.
Lead Counsel to Atiku Abubakar and di Peoples Democratic Party, Chris Uche, SAN tell tori pipo say im dey happy say di pre-hearing session don end and court join all di petitions togeda even though some parties bin no agree.
“Now all of us go hear dis mata sharp sharp, we wan assure pipo wey di worry about 29th May say swearing- in na just ceremony wey no tie di hands of di court in any way, oath bind di pesin wey take am, e no bind di court, di jurisdiction of di court still dey to do justice”
For Allied Peoples Movement (APM) dia hearing go end on 6 June, 2023 afta court adopt di address of di petitioners on 3 June, 2023.
All di petitioners drag President-Elect, Bola Tinubu, Inec, APC and Vice President-Elect, Kashim Shettima go court sake of alleged mago-mago for di 25 February, Presidential elections for Nigeria.
Di pre-hearing session wey end on Tuesday 23 May, 2023 bin start on Monday 9 May, 2023.
Na five petition dem bin file in total but Action Alliance (AA) and ction Peoples’ Party withdraw dia petitions on 8 May, 2023.
