President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will on July 5 open his defence at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in Abuja in a petition filed against his electoral victory in the February 25 presidential election, by the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Tinubu was on March 1, 2023 declared the winner of the disputed election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The decision by Tinubu to begin defence followed INEC dramatic decision on Tuesday to terminate its own defence in Obi’s petition after calling one witness and tendering four documents.
INEC Opens Defence Of Tinubu’s Election, Fails To Present Witness
Although the electoral body had informed the Court of the decision to justify the conduct of the poll with three witnesses, its lead counsel, Mr Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, suddenly announced the closure of the INEC defense at Tuesday’s proceedings.
Tinubu, through his lawyer, told the court that his client was fully ready to kick-start the defence on July 5 with his witnesses and documents to justify his victory in the presidential election.
At the Tuesday’s proceedings, INEC witness, Dr Lawrence Bayode, admitted that the electoral body suffered glitches during the presidential election but maintained that the glitches did not in any way affect conduct of the election, collation of results and declaration of final results.
On the allegations of blurred result sheets on INEC portal, the Deputy Director of Information and Communication said that clear result sheets can still be obtained on request by those in need of them.
Meanwhile, further hearing in the petition has been shifted to July 5 by the Court.
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