LIVE: Tribunal Begins Hearing Of Atiku, Obi Petitions Against Tinubu

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal Abuja will today begin pre-hearing in the petitions challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

VerseNews Nigeria reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared that Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress polled 8,794,726 votes to win the election.

The commission declared that Atiku came second with  6,984,520 votes, while it announced Labour Party’s Peter Obi as the second runner-up with  6,101,533 votes.

But Atiku, Obi and some other parties rejected the results announced by INEC and had approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to annul Tinubu’s victory.

On what to expect at today’s proceedings, a senior lawyer in Tinubu’s camp, who asked not to be named, told one of our correspondents on Sunday that, “The only thing they will do is to schedule the hearing, the number of witnesses, how many minutes the witness will use, and how to admit the documents; that’s what they call pre-trial.

“They are going to prepare a timetable for the hearing of the cases, the number of days to be spent by the petitioners, the number of days to be spent by the respondents, how do we take in the documents, certified true copy of the documents, are they going to be admitted like that or if there is an objection, how do we raise an objection to document?

“Will the court write a ruling on objection immediately or will the court write it in the cause of the main judgment? Those are the things that will happen tomorrow (Monday).”

This Online News Media reports that Atiku, in his  66-page petition, is praying the tribunal to declare him winner of the poll or order a fresh election. while Obi, in his petition, is also praying the tribunal to nullify Tinubu’s election.

However, Nigerians are demanding for a live broadcast of the tribunal to enable full participation and witness the processes.

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has supported the call for a live broadcast broadcast and asked the judiciary to invite the media and members of the public to witness to proceedings.

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He noted that allowing televising the proceedings will promote judicial transparency, credibility and also boost Nigerians trust in the judiciary.

He said; “I have always campaigned for that and that is the trend in Africa. In Ghana and Kenya, the proceedings are televised because judges should have nothing to hide. They should invite the media and the members of the public.”

“Once there is order in the court, everybody should be part of it. We are all part of the election and so the decision of the court on the election should not be shrouded in secrecy.”

“It is in the interest of our judges, and the public. And again, it enhances the credibility of the judiciary.”

“I am very sure that the suggestion will be seriously considered”

Also, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau (SAN) on Friday, March 24, 2023, said that a live telecast is in the interest of the Nigerian people, as Section 36 (1) and (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has already provided that judicial proceedings should be conducted in public.

“Providing public access to the proceedings would meet the aspirations of the public to participate in the process,” Maikyau said.