PEPT in Court: The Presidential Election Tribunal in Abuja will rule on petitions contesting the election of President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, Setember 6, 2023. The three parties with pending petitions before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) are expected to know their fate on Wednesday.
Umar Bangari, the Court of Appeal Registrar, stated that the hearings would be available for live broadcast by interested television stations. He also hinted that adequate security has been put in place and that only the invited members of political parties and the general public would be allowed into the courtroom to avoid congestion and security breaches.
Tinubu had secured 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 6,984,520, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) who polled 6,101,533 votes.
Not satisfied with the outcome, five political parties including the PDP, LP, Action Peoples Party (APP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and the Action Alliance (AA) lodged separate petitions before the tribunal seeking to annul Tinubu’s victory.
Shortly after the commencement of the pre-hearing session in May, the APP and AA withdrew their petitions.
The petitioners are challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
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The PDP and Atiku allege that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the election because he did not meet the constitution’s requirements. They also alleged widespread irregularities and malpractices in the election, which affected the outcome.
The LP and Obi are alleging that Tinubu was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the election. They also alleged widespread irregularities and malpractices in the election, which affected the outcome.
The PEPC is expected to deliver a fair and impartial judgment on the petitions. Nigerians will closely watch the review and are eager to know whether Tinubu will be declared the winner of the election or whether the election will be nullified.