Tinubu makes fresh demand as Tribunal moves election petition to Thursday

A report by Channels TV has it that the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has asked the presidential election tribunal to drop the petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) challenging his election victory.

At the pre-hearing session on Tuesday, May 9, the APM informed the court that it had 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 dismissal of the petition over claims of it lacking merit.

The presidential election petitions tribunal, therefore, adjourned the pre-hearing till Thursday, May 11, Daily Trust report added.

Chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsamani, who adjourned the petition, asked parties to draw out the issues for determination, Premium Times report further confirmed.

Chieftains of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) arrived at the tribunal on Tuesday, May 9, to know the fate of their candidate as the presidential election petition tribunal commences the day two hearing of the petition filed by Atiku Abubakar.

In a post sighted by Legit.ng on the official Twitter page of the opposition party, the acting national chairman of the PDP, Amb Iliya Umar Damagum, the national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba and other party leaders were seated in the courtroom in Abuja.

From the photos shared by the PDP, officials representing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)'s chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, were also present in the courtroom.

In another development, the governor of Ebonyi state, David Umahi, revealed that the chairman of the PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, helped Nigeria's president-elect and candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, to win the 2023 presidential polls.

Governor Umahi, a former member of the PDP and now with the APC, made this claim on Monday, March 27, at the commissioning of the revamped Community Secondary School in Okoro-nu-Odo, in the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers state.

The Ebonyi state governor, who was a guest of honour of Governor Nyesom Wike, said Senator Ayu's refusal to resign as the national chairman of the PDP was a blessing in disguise for his principal.