The Nigerian Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja has postponed the appeal that the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi, filed to overturn Bola Tinubu’s election victory till Wednesday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had on March 1, 2023 declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Tinubu the President-elect of Nigeria.
The court postponed the lawsuit of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, till Tuesday while setting the same date for another petition by the Action Peoples Party, APP.
The court ordered the proceedings to be put on hold and instructed the parties to list every witness statement and document they planned to rely on or contest at the petitions’ real hearing.
Peter Obi, who ran for the position of President, was present in court to observe the proceedings.
In the meantime, the court on Monday disallowed Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong from appearing before it as Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s agent.
As soon as the first petition filed challenging the results of the 2023 presidential election was called, the governor of Plateau State came up and identified himself as Tinubu’s agent.
“My Lord’s my name is Simon Lalong, and I am here to represent Tinubu,” the Governor stated.
However, Justice Haruna Tsammani led a five-member panel that declined to recognise him as Tinubu’s representative.
“You cannot represent an individual. Tinubu is not a corporation that would need a representative,” the presiding justice held.
“My Lords, in that case, I will represent the All Progressives Congress, APC,” Governor Lalong responded.