The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has merged the petitions of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that of the Labour Party (LP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) against the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) challenging the result of the February 25 presidential election.
The five-man tribunal led by Justice Haruna Tsammani on Tuesday, May 23, dismissed objections raised by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) against the merger of the petitions.
The court determined that since all of the claims involved the same election, it was in the interest of justice that they be merged and handled as a single petition.
As a result, the tribunal set May 30 as the date for commencement of hearing of the consolidated petition.
Additionally, the tribunal gave Obi and Atiku three weeks, each, to call witnesses.
The court also gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu and the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, five days each to make their defence against the petition.
In the same vein, the court ordered that the parties will adopt their last briefs of argument on August 5, before it sets a date for ruling.
