Tribunal resumes hearing, adjourns APM’s suit

The Presidential Election Petition Court resumed hearing the petitions challenging the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, which produced Bola Tinubu as president and Kashim Shettima as vice president.

During Tuesday’s proceedings, counsel for Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, informed the court of a recent judgement of the Supreme Court, which, according to him, appears to have resolved the same issue the Allied Peoples Movement has brought before the court.

He referenced the Supreme Court’s decision of Friday, May 26, that dismissed the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, which prayed to the court to nullify the ticket that produced the president and his vice president on grounds of double nomination.

Olanipekun sought to know if the decision of the apex court does not affect the case of the APM, which is also challenging the outcome of the election on the grounds of using a placeholder, Kabir Masari, for Shettima.

“We are aware that the Supreme Court gave a decision on this same matter in the yet-to-be-reported judgement SC/CV/501/20223 and the parties involved were Peoples Democratic Party versus INEC and three others, where the apex court resolved all the issues.

“We promise within the next two days that the certified true copies of the judgement of the Supreme Court will be made available.

“And we will also discuss with the petitioners whether, in light of the decision of the Supreme Court, there will still be the need to continue with this petition.”