Tribunal fixes May 8 for hearing on presidential election
The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has fixed May 8, 2023, for hearing of petitions challenging the declaration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the President-elect in the February 25 Presidential Election.
The date for hearing of the petitions was confirmed to Radio Nigeria on Wednesday by the Registry of the Tribunal.
It said the purpose of the scheduled hearing was to clarify if there were any pending applications before the Tribunal.
According to the registry, a timetable will be set for the hearing of the substantive matters.
Also, the Tribunal stopped receiving replies from petitioners on April 23.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu had on March 1, 2023, declared Senator Tinubu the President-Elect on the grounds that his party scored the majority of votes cast in the polls.
He had polled 8.8 million votes to defeat Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 6.9 million and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who garnered 6.1 million, and 15 other candidates.
Not satisfied with the results, the PDP and its Presidential Candidate are asking the tribunal to cancel the February 25 presidential election and order a fresh one due to alleged irregularities that marred the exercise in thousands of polling units.
The presidential Candidate of the labour party, Peter Obi, who came third in the election, also alleged that the vote was characterised by various irregularities, including the non-qualification of Senator Tinubu and his running-mate, Kashim Shettima, to contest the election.
The APC has also asked the Tribunal to dismiss the petitions filed by Alhaji Atiku and PDP challenging the return of its candidate, Senator Tinubu as the winner of the said presidential election.
