Over two months after the results of the controversial 2023 Presidential Elections were announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Presidential Election Petitions Court has fixed Monday for the hearing of the petitions challenging the declaration of the All Progressives Congress standard bearer, Bola Tinubu as the president-elect.
The National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress, Ahmad El-Marzuq, confirmed this to The PUNCH on Tuesday.
He said the APC legal team had been briefed and was ready to defend the party’s mandate.
“We have been briefed about the hearing coming up next week. But who told you the election petitions at the tribunal must necessarily be concluded before May 29?
“Are you saying if they were not concluded before President Buhari leaves office, the government should be left in a vacuum and the president-elect should not be sworn in? It is not a must,’’ he stated in response to a question about the time it would take for the petitions to be decided.
A top official of the election petitions tribunal also confirmed that the hearing proceedings would start on Monday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information, he said, ‘’The Presidential election tribunal has fixed Monday, May 8th as for the hearing of the petitions challenging the victory of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.’’
INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, had on March 1 declared Tinubu the president-elect, claiming that his party scored the majority of votes cast in the polls, even when results were yet to be fully uploaded on IREV.
According to him, the APC candidate polled 8.8 million to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored 6.9million, Peter Obi of the Labour Party who amassed 6.1million.
Aggrieved with the result, Atiku and Obi filed separate petitions seeking orders to annul the election or declare them the winners of the polls.
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