The Presidential Election Petitions Court on Thursday resumed hearing on the suit filed by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party Peter and his party against the declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25th presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC).
The court began sitting at 9am, with Mr Obi, his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, and Labour Party chairman Julius Abure all present.
The petitioner’s team led by Awa Kalu tendered boxes of documents from six states in court today to support their case. Forms EC8A from Benue, Cross Rivers, Ekiti, Niger, Osun and Rivers states were tendered.
All tendered documents were opposed by the respondents – INEC, Tinubu, Shettima and APC. except for Niger state where they said the documents from Suleja is still being sorted out.
The court admitted all the documents presented by the petitioner despite the objections raised by the respondents.
However, the court criticised LP and Obi, for showing lack of preparedness in the petition over tendering of the document, saying the electoral documents tendered as exhibits were properly filed and scheduled before the court.
Consequently, the court stepped down the hearing for 10 minutes and asked the legal team to re-file the schedule of documents in line with the provisions of the pre-hearing report.
When the court reconvened, the five-man panel of Justices led by Haruna Tsammani, advised the petitioners to seek an adjournment to enable them arrange the documents properly but the petitioners’ team, said they won’t be taking the adjournment suggested by the court.
Nevertheless, the case was adjourned to June 2 for continuation of hearing.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
