The Supreme Court has slated Thursday, October 26, to deliver final judgments in the appeals lodged by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi and his PDP counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar against the victory of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the presidential election which affirmed by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).
Dr. Awemeri Festus Akande, the Supreme Court’s Director of Press and Information, confirmed the fixture on Wednesday.
He stated that effective security measures have been put in place to prevent security breaches both inside and outside the courthouse.
The seven-man panel led by John Inyang Okoro after listening to the submissions of the parties in the matter had told the litigants that the judgment date would be communicated to them.
With the development, Nigerians expresses surprise at the speed at which the judgement would delivered, given that hearing on the appelas took place on Monday.
While Obi and his party is seeking the quashing of judgment of the hearing court below.
His lead counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), had prayed the Apex Court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgment of the lower court.
Alhaji Abubakar Mahmoud, Chief Wole Olanipekun and Chief Akin Olujimi, all Senior Advocates of Nigeria, representing INEC, Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and the APC respectively, urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.
Recall that apart from faulting the verdict of the PEPC, which affirmed Tinubu’s election, Atiku on his part equally asled for permission to tender a copy of Tinubu’s academic records released by the Chicago State University (CSU), USA, which he said showed that Tinubu submitted a forged CSU certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The former Vice-President also sought to get a Washington, DC court to order the FBI to publicly release documents on President Tinubu’s $460,000 forfeiture case.
The Supreme Court had on Monday stuck out the petition of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) after they withdrew the petition.
