OBI,LP SUFFER ANOTHER DEFEAT AS COURT DISMISSES APPLICATION

By Aisha Balogun

At the resumed hearing of the petition filed by Mr Peter Gregory Obi against the declaration and return of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 Presidential election, the Presidential Election Petition Court delivered a ruling in respect of the application filed by the Petitioners for leave to serve interrogatories on the 1st Respondent, the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The application which was moved on the 8th of June, 2023 by P.I.N Ikweto SAN was opposed by the Respondents. Dr. Kemi Pinheiro, SAN had on behalf of the 1st Respondent argued that the motion was incompetent as it was filed outside the time allowed for filing same in view of the provisions of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act.

He also argued and contended that the Petitioners had not given any reasons why an application such as this should be heard outside the pre-hearing period. Similar arguments were made and canvassed by Mr Akin Olujimi SAN.

By its ruling delivered in open Court, the Presidential Election Petition Court in a unanimous decision dismissed the application of the Petitioners and upheld all the arguments as canvassed by Dr. Kemi Pinheiro, SAN and Akin Olujimi SAN. The questions in the interrogatories which are in relation to the testing of the e-transmission system of INEC for functionality before the election was as prescribed in the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, 2022 to be made within 10days after the Petitioners Reply but the Petitioners made the interrogatories after the 10days had lapsed.

The Justices of the Court of Appeal also chastised the Petitioners as being tardy in the presentation of the petition.