Tinubu asks Tribunal to dismiss petition filed by Allied Peoples Movement

The President-elect, Bola Tinubu, has asked the election tribunal to dismiss the petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).

At the pre-hearing session, the Allied People’s Movement informed the court that they have filed a pre-hearing information sheet TF 008, and had adopted the answers therein.

Counsel to Tinubu, Akin Olujimi told the tribunal, that their response contains a prayer seeking the tribunal to dismiss the petition over claims of tit lacking merit.

The presidential election petitions tribunal would adjourn pre-hearing till 11th May.

Chairman of the panel Justice Haruna Tsamani who adjourned the petition on Tuesday asked parties to draw out the issues for determination.

He also ordered that parties should consider the documents they are objecting to and the ones they are not.

All responses should be filed so they can be heard.

The respondents – Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), All Progressives Congress (APC), the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Vice, Senator Kashim Shettima as well as Kabiru Masari told the court they have filed their various answers to the questions in the petition.

Justice Tsammani told all the parties involved to consolidate their issues for determination to avoid duplication and waste of time.

It is another day of legal fireworks at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The tribunal resumed its sitting on Tuesday with the pre-hearing of the petition filed by the Allied People’s Movement (APM).

At the pre-hearing of the case, the five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned the petition till Thursday, May 11 for the continuation of the hearing.

The APM is challenging the victory of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu. The party contends that the elections which returned Tinubu were marred by electoral malpractice and violence among others.

Lawyers representing the All Progressives Congress (APC), the president-elect, and the vice president-elect are, however, asking the court to dismiss the petition.

Justice Tsammani told all the parties involved to consolidate their issues for determination to avoid duplication and waste of time.

The court subsequently stood down its proceedings. It will reconvene shortly to take the last petition from the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), and its governorship candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Abubakar and the PDP are asking the tribunal to declare him the winner of the presidential election or alternatively, order a rerun between him and the Presidential-elect, Bola Tinubu.

In the alternative, they want the entire election nullified and a fresh one conducted. Their petition also states that Tinubu was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast at the election, and at the time of the election, he was not qualified to contest the election.