Former Vice President and PDP candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said on Tuesday that he is not worried that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu-elect will be sworn in office on May 29 before the end of petitions. annul his election victory.
Atiku, who is contesting the declaration of Tinubu of the now-ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner of the February 25 presidential election, said he hopes he will be reinstated in court.
At a stoppage after the sitting of the Presidential Electoral Appeal Tribunal in Abuja, through its principal lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, PEPC asserted its petition against the petitions filed by Labor Party candidate Peter Obi and allied states. Movement, APM, and Atiku argued that the court has the right to remove Tinubu from office even after he was sworn in. Announcing that the plenary hearing of the three consolidated petitions would begin on May 30, a day after Tinubu was sworn in as president, the PDP candidate through his legal team said: “I was asked on May 29, and I want to ensure people that Tinubu swearing in is a mere ceremony, which in no way binds the hands of the court.
“An oath binds the juror, not the court.”
“The court has given you deadlines within which the parties must file their case. We are happy that with this development, the petitions will be resolved quickly,” added Atiku’s lawyer, Uche, SAN.
It would be recalled that the five-member panel chaired by Justice Haruna Tsamman, in its pre-trial report on Tuesday, granted Atiku’s request to use three weeks to present evidence in court through 100 witnesses.
In his joint petition with the PDP,CA/PEPC/05/2023, Atiku argued that Tinubu’s declaration as winner of the presidential election was “invalid because it does not comply with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act”.
He claimed that Tinubu’s election was void due to corrupt practices.
