Supreme Court Fixes Date For Judgment On Atiku’s, Obi’s Appeals Against Tinubu

The judgment will lay to rest the legal disputes over the February 25 presidential election. [caption id="attachment_13350" align="alignnone" width="720"] Supreme Court is set to decide Atiku, Obi's case against Tinubu's victory. Punch[/caption] Atiku and Mr Obi had appealed against the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) which dismissed their petitions challenging the outcome of the 25 February presidential election and affirmed the election of President Bola Tinubu. The Director of Information of the Supreme Court, Festus Akande, confirmed the information to journalists on Wednesday in Abuja. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Supreme Court had, on Monday, reserved judgment after hearing the appeals. NAN reports that the five-member PEPC led by Haruna Tsammani had on 6 September dismissed petitions filed by the presidential candidates for lacking in merit and affirmed the election of President Tinubu. Displeased with the judgment, the duo approached the Supreme Court, asking it to overturn the judgment of the lower court in their favour. Atiku’s notice of appeal had canvassed 35 grounds, contending that the PEPC erred in law, Premium Times reports. The PDP presidential candidate, through his lead counsel, Chris Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told the court that the judgment of the PEPC was a miscarriage of justice. He argued that the lower court also erred in law when it failed to nullify the presidential election on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act of 2022. According to him, by the evidence before the court, INEC conducted the election based on grave and gross misrepresentation contrary to the principles of the Electoral Act 2022, and against the doctrine of legitimate expectation. Specifically, Atiku asked the Supreme Court to set aside the whole findings and conclusions of the PEPC on the grounds that they did not represent the true picture of the grounds of his petition. Mr Obi, on his part, through his lead counsel, Levi Uzoukwu, a SAN, also prayed to the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment of the PEPC. Mr Uzoukwu prayed to the court to allow the appeal of his client and grant all the prayers sought. In their responses, counsel for the respondents – the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, (APC) – each urged the court to dismiss the appeals for want of merit and for being frivolous. Specifically, President Tinubu’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, a SAN, described the appeals as lacking in merit. Mr Olanipekun specifically told the court that the appeal filed by Atiku was abusive in nature and asked the court to dismiss the appeal. Mahmoud Yakubu, a SAN, for INEC and Akin Olujimi similarly asked the panel to dismiss the appeals for want of merit. The Supreme Court had, at Monday’s proceedings, dismissed the petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) after its lawyers withdrew the case. The seven-member panel of justices led by Inyang Okoro, after hearing both appeals, reserved judgment, promising to communicate the date parties to the parties.