The Presidential Election Petition Court has consolidated all the petitions filed by the three petitioners, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM), and their presidential candidates.
The court fixed May 30 for the commencement of trial in the three petitions during which the petitioners will be expected to call their first sets of witnesses.
The Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Haruna Tsamani, made this known on Tuesday while presenting the court pre-hearing report.
All three parties are challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election, in which the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu, was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
In the result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 1, 2023, Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes, while PDP’s Atiku Abubakar scored Abubakar 6,984,520 votes and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, finished with a tally of 6,101,533.
The Tribunal, in Tuesday’s proceeding at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, said the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, had three weeks to prove their case and that hearing starts on May 30.
The Tribunal ruled that the petitioners (Obi and LP) have three weeks – May 30 to June 23 – to wrap up their case, including presentation of their 50 Witnesses.
The tribunal also stated that all trials are to end on August 5 while adoption of final addresses will take place on August 8.