All eyes on judiciary as about 100 SANs assembled by Tinubu, Atiku, Obi set to do battle at election tribunal

•LP, PDP, others want tribunal to pay attention to substance, not technicalities

Despite the controversies generated by the general elections and the sense of urgency which some Nigerians had argued should follow the election petitions, the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) is yet to commence hearing of the petitions, while time ticks away.

Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), had recently argued that the court could determine the cases before May 29 handover, if it speeds up the process to reduce tension being generated owing to the fact that the declared winner would assume office, while the legitimacy of his victory is still being challenged.

However, it appears the jurists are not persuaded by such arguments, since the law grants them power to set aside any victory not obtained in accordance with the law whether or not the winner is already in office.

According to the secretariat of the PEPC, which is the Court of Appeal, the petitions are not yet ripe for hearing as the replies to petitions are still being awaited before a date would be fixed.

Obi is challenging the election for non-compliance with the relevant laws. Besides non-compliance, Obi and LP, in their petition, are claiming that at the time of the presidential election, Tinubu and Shettima were not qualified to contest it.

In addition to those, Obi and LP in paragraph 28 of the petition, declared that Tinubu was not qualified to contest for the presidency because he was fined in America for involving in dishonesty bordering on narcotics trafficking.

Meanwhile, APC, in its reply to Obi’s claim, had prayed the court to dismiss the petition filed by LP and Obi, and urged the PEPC to reject the petition in its notice of preliminary objection marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023.

APC also prayed the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that Obi lacked requisite locus standi to institute the petition, because he was not a member of LP at least 30 days to the party’s presidential primary, to be validly sponsored by the party.

INEC, on its part, dismissed the parties’ argument that results collation were to be done electronically, citing paragraphs 50 to 55 of the regulations and guidelines for the conduct of the 2023 presidential election.

It also dismissed the allegation that its officials doctored results to favour a particular political party’s candidate or that there was over-voting. The Commission also said the reliefs sought by Obi and his party are not grantable and prayed the court to either dismiss or strike out the petition for being grossly incompetent, abusive, vague, non-specific, ambiguous, and academic.

With the exception of the 2015 election, when President Muhammadu Buhari defeated former President Goodluck, every presidential election held since 1999 has ended in legal fireworks, but none may be quite as dramatic as the just-concluded presidential election, reason all eyes will be on the judiciary, especially the Appeal and Supreme courts justices.

Already, Obi has assembled 20 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) in his 60-member legal team, some of who are Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, Awa Kalu, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, P.I.N. Ikwueto, Ben Anyachebe, S.T. Hon, Arthur Obi Okafor, Ik Ezechukwu, J.S. Okutepa, Dr. (Mrs) Valerie Azinge, Emeka Okpoko, and Alex Ejesieme.

Atiku is also lining up 19 SANs to establish the claim of illegality in the election. The legal team headed by J.K. Gadzama, includes Chris Uche, Paul Usoro, Tayo Jegede, Ken Mozia, Mahmood Magaji, Mike Ozekhome, Joe Abraham, Garba Tetengi Chukwuma Umeh and Emeka Etiaba.

resolved before the swearing in date of May 29.

According to him, “all these things can be trashed out by the Election Petition Tribunal and the Supreme Court before May 29. But if we allow things to go out of control, then the Doctrine of Necessity may come in and the unexpected is likely to happen in the country.”

But National Legal Adviser of All Progressives Congress (APC), Babatunde Ogala, said the expectation of the party is that the tribunal should strike out the petition for being incompetent.

According to him, “we didn’t add anything to the petition we already filed before the tribunal. We have filed our response, our reply to the petition(s), which incorporated our preliminary objections to the competent of the petition by the opposition parties. We didn’t add anything but they have seven days to respond to us and that is what we are waiting for from the respondent of the petition.

We have also filed a notice of preliminary objections and told the tribunal to strike out the petition for being incompetent.” One of Atiku’s spokesmen, Daniel Bwala, responding to a comment by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, on moves to disqualify Tinubu, said: “Keyamo said people are searching the Constitution from sections 1 to 320 to find a ground to disqualify Tinubu. No no no. He has been disqualified from the Electoral Act before we even reach the Constitution. By the time we reach the Constitution, it will be to convict him.”

Keyamo had said some people were searching the Constitution daily on how to disqualify Tinubu. He stressed that the ignorance displayed by those trying to disqualify Tinubu was very interesting.