President Bola Tinubu and the Vice President, Kassim Shettima, along with their party, the All Progressives Congress have closed their defence in the joint petition filed by the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi challenging their victory in the February 25 presidential election.
The respondents through their team of lawyers led by Wole Olanikpekun, SAN, for Tinubu and Shettima and Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, (for the APC) closed their defence after tendering several documents and calling a witness to testify in aid of their counter-arguments against the issues raised by the petitioners.
Despite the objections by the petitioners, the five-man panel of the court presided over by Haruna Tsammani admitted the documents as evidence and marked them as exhibits.
The court gave the respondents 10 days to file their final written addresses, the petitioner 7 days to respond and 5 days to reply on point of law.
Similarly, Tinubu, Shettima, APC close their defence in Atiku’s petition the president, his Vice and their party, the All Progressives Congress have closed their defence in the joint petition by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar. The PDP and Atiku are also challenging the outcome of the February 25 election where in Tinubu emerged as president as declared by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission.
As in the case of Obi, the court gave the respondents 10 days to file their final written addresses, the petitioner 7 days to respond and 5 days to reply on point of law.
Meanwhile, Justice Haruna Tsammani said that the date for the adoption of the final written addresses would be communicated to the parties.
During the proceedings, documents tendered and admitted include a letter from the Nigeria Police to the United States Embassy, dated February 3, 2003; a letter from the United States Embassy to the Nigeria Police, dated February 4, 2003; and US Visas and immigration documents between 2011 and 2021.
They also argued that, contrary to the provisions of the law, the president failed to poll at least 25% of votes from the Federal Capital Territory.
