The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has adjourned to Tuesday, July 4, hearing of the defence filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in support of how it conducted the 2023 presidential election.

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.

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.

However, during Monday’s proceedings, counsel for INEC, Alhajo A.B Mahmoud, SAN, informed the court that the commission had invited three witnesses to give their testimony in aid of their defence.

However, he said that the witness who was scheduled to testify was unavoidably absent from the court.

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.

Three aggrieved parties and their candidates are challenging the outcome of the presidential election in court.

The petitioners are the Labour Party (LP) and its flag bearer, Peter Obi; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).

Consequently, the parties, and their separate candidates in their petitions dragged the electoral commission, the president, his Vice – Kassim Shetima and their party, the APC to court.

They had closed their cases on June 23, leaving the stage for the respondents in the matter to open their defences at the court.