The decision on all applications made by respondents in the petition filed by Atiku Abubakar and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has been reserved by the Presidential Election Petition Court.
At the pretrial hearing of the petition in Abuja, the five-man panel of justices led by justice Haruna Simon Tsammani gave the order that further pre trial hearing in both the petitions of Atiku Abubakar and peter Obi were adjourned to Saturday, May 20, 2023.
The respondents are the Independent National Elections Commission (INEC), Ahmed Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the petitioner is Atiku Abubakar, the PDP’s candidate for president in the general election of 2023, and his party.
All respondents have adopted their motions during the pre-trial hearing that is coming to a close.
INEC, the first respondent, moves its two motions asking the court to strike certain clauses from the petition or to grant the petitioners’ request for a live broadcast of the hearings, which is the only motion the petitioners made.
Three motions filed by Tinubu ask the court to toss out the case before trial or to strike out certain sentences from Atiku’s petition.
The third respondent in the case, APC, filed two petitions with the court asking for the elimination of certain paragraphs or the outright dismissal of the motions.
Chris Uche SAN, the attorney for Atiku Abubakar, stated in court that INEC was supposed to act impartially as the election’s arbiter.
The five-member justice panel held off making a decision until the adjournment date.
The petitioners are asking the court to permit live broadcasting of the proceedings on television.
The adjournment date is saturday May 20th, 2023
