Members of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) that would pass judgement on the outcome of the 2023 presidential election would be unveiled come Monday, May 8, 2023, CN learnt.
The panel members would be revealed on the announced date at the Court of Appeal Headquarters in Abuja. The presiding judge, Justice Monica Bolnaan Dongban-Mensem, had kept the names of the tribunal members to herself since talks began on the election outcome to avoid undue influence on them.
The unveiling of the tribunal panel members is coming on the heels of the Action Alliance (AA) and its Presidential Candidate in the election, Solomon David Okanigbuan, notifying the tribunal of their intentions to withdraw their petition against the declaration of candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as Nigeria’s President-elect.
The petition’s withdrawal notice would be tabled before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) on May 8th during the inaugural sitting at the Court of Appeal Headquarters in Abuja.
A motion on notice for the withdrawal of the petition marked CA/PEPC/01/2023 obtained by journalists showed that it had been slated as the first assignment of the tribunal.
Aside from Tinubu, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), All Progressives Congress APC and Hamza Al Mustapha are listed as respondents in AA’s petition.
However, other petitions slated for the pre-hearing session are those of the Action People’s Party (APP) marked CA/PEPC/02/2023, which has Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as three respondents.
All petitions filed against Tinubu’s declaration, including that of Peter Gregory Obi and the Labour Party (LP), marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 with INEC, Senator Bola Tinubu, Senator Kashim Shetima and APC as respondents would be treated as well, CityNews understands.
A cause list of the tribunal for May 8th, reportedly obtained by Daily Post, showed that the Allied People’s Movement (APM) would proceed with its petition marked CA/PEPC/04/2023 against Tinubu.
Defendants in APM’s petition are INEC, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Kashim Shetima and one Kabir Masari.
It was gathered that the petition by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) marked CA/ PEPC/05/2023, would be treated last and has INEC, Tinubu Bola Ahmed and the APC as three respondents.
Reports revealed further that all has been set at the Court of Appeal’s Main Court Hall to be used by the tribunal, and the hall is reportedly locked up as part of security measures while security operatives have been deployed to the premises to ward off possible security breaches during the proceedings.
It was also gathered that all parties in the five petitions had been served with hearing notices through the Chambers of their respective lawyers.
