Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, has urged the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to wrap up petitions pertaining to the February 25 presidential election before the May 29 inauguration of a new president.
The Independent National Electoral Commission said that Bola Tinubu, the candidate for president from the All Progressives Congress, was the winner.
However, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, who came in second and third, did not accept the results and sent petitions to the tribunal to challenge them.
In a statement he personally signed on Monday, Agbakoba encouraged the tribunal to approach the cases using the same processes utilised for the swift resolution of arbitration proceedings.
In the petition for the presidency, he also listed three problems that could be solved in the ways he suggested.
“I set out three problems in the presidential election petitions that are amenable to resolution by the application of procedural orders and or directions, which may conclusively resolve some of the jurisdictional and procedural difficulties,” he said.
“Interpretation of Section 134 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution of 1999 about whether or not you need 25% of the vote in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja to be President.
Is it permissible for a candidate to run for president or vice president while also seeking the nomination for a senatorial office?
Problems pertaining to a candidate’s eligibility to run for president.
If the petition had been filed for arbitration, the arbitral panel would issue what is known as a partial final award, and an arbitrator could instruct counsel to handle all difficult disputes.
Agbakoba voiced the opinion that the petitions between the tribunal and Supreme Court might be settled in seven days to defuse the tension around the subject of an interim administration.
“Our current court policy, where case management plays a relatively small role in judicial decisions, must be drastically altered to accommodate the pace proposed here. The guiding principle and engine of contemporary adjudication is case management. The mantra that our judiciary must loudly chant is “speed of justice.” This is vitally required in the presidential petitions proceedings, he concluded.