The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPC) has scheduled Wednesday, September 6, as the date for delivering judgment in the three petitions challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
The tribunal has approved live broadcast of the proceedings to promote transparency.
Recall that a total of 346 justices were sworn in to handle the 2023 election petitions, with a mandate to deliver judgments within 180 days after the filing of the petitions. The judges presiding over the tribunal include Justices Haruna Tsammani, Stephen Adah, Monsurat Bolaji-Yusuf, Moses Ugo, and Abba Mohammed.
The legal teams representing the candidates include Chris Uche for Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Wole Olanipekun for Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Levi Uzoukwu for Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
Here are key titbits about the tribunal, its activities so far and what to expect;
- Three Petitions: The PEPT will rule on three petitions challenging Tinubu’s victory, filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP), the Action Peoples Party (APP), the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), and the Action Alliance (AA). The AA and APP withdrew their petitions later during the proceedings.
- Tinubu’s Victory: Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), secured 8,794,726 votes to win the presidential election, defeating Atiku Abubakar of the PDP (6,984,520 votes) and Peter Obi of the LP (6,101,533 votes).
- Challenges: The petitioners raised several issues, including claims that Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, were ineligible to contest the election due to various reasons such as alleged indictment in the United States, alleged forged academic certificates, and citizenship issues.
- Ineligibility Claims: The petitioners also argued that Tinubu should not have been declared the winner because he failed to secure 25 percent of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
- Reserve Judgment: On August 1, the PEPT reserved judgment after hearing final written arguments from counsels representing Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.
- Possible Outcomes: Analysts suggest three possible outcomes for the tribunal’s judgment: upholding the election outcome, nullifying the election and ordering a fresh one, or rejecting the election result, removing the declared winner, and installing the petitioner as the actual winner.
- Next Steps: Regardless of the tribunal’s decision, any dissatisfied party can appeal to the Supreme Court, whose verdict will be final.
