The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, has consolidated all the three petitions seeking to nullify the outcome of the 2023 Presidential election.
A five-member panel of the tribunal led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, in a unanimous decision, dismissed objections raised by the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, against the consolidation of the petitions.
The tribunal held that justice of the cases demanded that they should be merged and dealt with as one petition since they are all related to the same election.
It however slated May 30 for the Labour Party, LP’s candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, to open his case against the outcome of the Presidential election held on February 25.
Obi had earlier said he would need seven weeks to present his case through 50 witnesses, but the tribunal, in its ruling, reduced the period to three weeks, even as it gave the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC; Tinubu and the Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima, five days each to defend the petition.
It also gave the 4th respondent in the case, Kabiru Masari, three days to also defend himself.
It stressed that the parties would adopt their final briefs of argument on August 5 to enable it fix a date for judgement.
Aside Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, and Peter Obi of the LP, who are challenging the outcome of the election, the Allied People’s Movement, APM, is also at the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the Presidential election.
In the meantime, the Justice Tsammani-led panel has warned it may ban both lawyers and members of the public from entering the courtroom with mobile phones on the next adjourned date.