Presidential Election Tribunal adjourns sitting on Atiku’s case against Tinubu to Thursday

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on Tuesday adjourned the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, against the declaration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The presiding justice of the court sitting in Abuja, Justice Haruna Tsammani, announced the adjournment of the hearing of the petition to Thursday, May 11.

The development followed the fresh motions brought by Tinubu’s legal team seeking to dismiss Atiku’s petition at the pre-hearing stage. The panel said that the motions would be entertained on the adjourned date.

Tinubu’s lead counsel, Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN), referred to the motions when asked whether the team had responded to the pre-hearing questions in Form TF 008 contained in Atiku’s petition.

Tinubu’s counsel replied in the affirmative but added that they had brought motions to ask for the dismissal of the petitions.

The tribunal will also rule on Atiku’s earlier motion for Thursday’s live broadcast of the proceedings.

Earlier reported that the tribunal commenced sitting on Monday.

A highlight of the proceeding was the dismissal of the petition filed by Action Alliance against Tinubu’s victory. The petition was dismissed after its withdrawal by the party.

During its inaugural sitting on Monday, the five-member panel adjourned pre-hearing in the petitions filed by the Action Peoples Party (APP) and Labour Party (LP) until Wednesday.