Thursday, October 26 , The Judgement day— Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has fixed Thursday 26 October to deliver Judgement on the Appeals to upturn the declaration of Tinibu as the President of Nigeria.

This was confirmed to Newsmen by the Supreme Court spokesman,Festus Akande.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Mr Peter Obi the Presidential Candidates of the Labour Party (LP), are seeking to upturn the judgment of the presidential election petition tribunal which affirmed Tinubu’s election as president.

Among the issues raised by  Peter Obi is that Tinubu failed to secure 25 percent of votes cast in the federal capital territory (FCT).

Also Obi is saying  that Tinubu’s forfeiture of $460,000 in the US disqualifies him from contesting for as a candidate.

Obi and Atiku  also challenged the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit election results electronically as promised in their guideline.

Obi and LP’s 73-page notice of appeal is premised on 51 grounds.
In the notice of appeal, Obi and his party insisted that the tribunal erred in its findings that Tinubu won the election by the majority of lawful votes cast.

They also faulted the panel for striking out several paragraphs in their petitions.

The appellants said the panel was wrong to have held that they failed to prove their allegation of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

Moreso, they are asking the supreme court to “set aside the perverse judgment of the lower Court” and “grant the reliefs sought in the petition either in the main or in the alternative”.

In other words, Alhaji Abubakar on the other hand is also challenging Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the election.

In the his 35 grounds notice of appeal, he submitted that the tribunal’s findings were done with “grave errors and gross misrepresentation” which resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

Moreso, Abubakar is asking the court to grant him leave to file fresh evidence which he obtained from the Chicago State University (CSU) against President Tinubu.

Abubakar had argued that Tinubu’s academic records were fraught with discrepancies and forgeries.

At the court session on Monday, Chris Uche, counsel to Abubakar and the PDP, submitted that the issue involving Tinubu’s certificate is a “weighty, grave and constitutional” one, which the supreme court should admit as fresh evidence against President Tinubu.