On June 22, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Atiku Abubakar, its presidential candidate, will conclude their legal proceeding.
This came when the court decided to grant the party two extra days after the party had used up those two days during the proceeding.
The party was supposed to conclude its case on Tuesday, but because of the Democracy Day holiday on Monday, June 12, and last Saturday, they missed two opportunities to submit papers and gather witnesses.
Off-camera, Chris Uche, the PDP’s legal representative, stated that they had invited 25 witnesses and would round up to 30. The remaining 70 witnesses would be represented by papers that were tendered.
The PDP previously bemoaned the challenges they faced in obtaining Certified True Copies (CTCs) of documents from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to support their appeal contesting President Bola Tinubu’s declaration.
The PDP’s counsel stated at the resumed hearing on Tuesday before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) that INEC had brought the CTC of the Federal Capital Territory voter register, but not all of it, and they wished to offer these as evidence.
All three parties raised objections to the document’s admissibility: INEC, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Tinubu’s legal counsel. However, the court accepted it as proof.
Uche also complained that it was difficult to work on because they had sought for a CTC of a subpoena since May 26 but INEC had now produced it.
However, INEC claimed that the party/Atiku had failed to pay for the certification and that the commission had delayed the paperwork. In order to gather all the documentation, the lawyers said that they had called INEC officials from all throughout Nigeria.
The case has been postponed until Wednesday, June 21 so that the hearing can continue.
The court will then reassemble to consider the appeal submitted by the Labour Party and Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate.
The PDP contested the results of the presidential election on February 25 after Bola Tinubu, the then-APC candidate, was elected president of Nigeria.
Runner-up Former Vice President Abubakar is one of the parties suing the tribunal, requesting that Tinubu’s victory be declared invalid.