Peter Usman, AbujaThe Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) yesterday in Abuja adjourned till May 18, 2023 for further hearing of the motion on notice of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, seeking a live broadcast of the proceedings of the court.
Counsel to Atiku, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, at yesterday’s sitting, informed the court that the motion which was filed on May 7 had been served on all the respondents, and they had met and agreed on the modalities to be adopted, with a view to ensuring a seamless progression of the pre-hearing session.
“My lords, the counsel for the respective parties have met and put heads together to harmonise and streamline the vital areas and components of the pre-hearing process.
“The first item resolved by the various counsel are documented, and we agreed to set up a team together to look at the documents and agree on them in order to eliminate objections while tendering them from the Bar during the hearing.
“We intend to complete that between Monday and Tuesday next week and then prepare a schedule of documents to facilitate the hearing,” Uche said.
He further told the court that they were yet to get a response from any of the respondents on the live broadcast petition served on the other parties.
“The second one is the issues for trial. For the petitioners, we filed ours on May 11, that is today, and served it on all the parties, subject to any modifications by the honourable court.
“Lastly, with respect to motions pending before your lordships, for us at the moment, we have just one motion filed on May 7.”
He added, “We are yet to receive responses of the respondents in respect of the motion which is for televising of the proceedings.
“All together, we have been served with four motions; two from the 1st Respondent and two from the 3rd Respondent.
“We have reacted to the first one by the 1st Respondent and prepared our response to the other ones since we were served not long ago.
“We have agreed to file all our responses and take all of them next week Thursday, subject to the convenience of the court.”
In reaction, Tinubu’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, promised to file his response.
Similar undertakings were made by Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, who stood for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Charles Edosomwen, SAN, who represented the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Based on the agreement of counsel, the chairman of the court’s panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, fixed Thursday, May 18, for the hearing of the motion.
Meanwhile, since Monday when the pre-hearing session started, yesterday was the first time Atiku was making an appearance in court.
He stormed the court accompanied by party stalwarts like Dino Melaye, Babangida Aliyu, Uche Secondus, and others.
Atiku’s petition, which was initially slated for 2:00 pm for the pre-hearing session, was moved up to 9:00 am in the morning.
The candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has shown up to court for all the days his pre-hearing session was slated for so far.
Obi was present on Monday and Wednesday at the court where he witnessed proceedings in his own petition.
