The hearing in the petition filed by the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, was adjourned to Tuesday, July 4, by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal due to the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to provide a defence.
INEC’s three crucial witnesses had failed to make an appearance at the Tribunal for some inexplicable reasons.
During Monday’s proceedings, counsel for INEC, A.B Mahmoud, SAN, informed the court that the commission had billed three witnesses to give their testimony in aid of their defence.
The court on June 23 fixed Monday, July 3 for respondents to open their case in defence of the petition filed by aggrieved parties challenging the outcome of the February 25 election wherein Bola Tinubu emerged as the president.
Labour Party had alleged that INEC failed to conduct the election in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act (2022). According to LP, INEC, reneged on its promises to transmit the presidential election results electronically through the Bimodal Voters Association Accreditation System and INEC Results Viewing Portal but failed to fulfill this commitment.
Also, LP and Peter Obi have leveled accusations of electoral malpractices during elections.
According to the schedule, the electoral commission was billed to advance their argument against the petition filed by the Labour Party and its presidential election, Peter Obi on Monday morning
He thereafter sought that the matter be moved to the next day.
The PEPC headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani heeded the request following the agreement of other parties in the case.
