Tribunal dismisses first petition against Tinubu

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja on Monday dismissed one of the petitions filed by the Action Alliance (AA) challenging the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25 Presidential poll.

A five-member panel of the court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani dismissed the case after the petitioner’s lawyer announced its withdrawal.

It was the first among the five petitions received by the court to be called for hearing.

Tsammani also asked for their cooperation since the case is time bound and they should be wary of bringing unnecessary applications that will waste the time of the court.

In their separate responses, counsels to the President-Elect, Wole Olanikpekun and of Atiku, Chris Uche as well as Obi’s lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu, assured the court of their full cooperation and support

Tsammani concluded that everyone will be satisfied with the verdict at the end of the tribunal hearing.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) with 8,794,726 votes winner of the presidential election.

Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second with 6,984,520 votes and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) was third with 6,101,533 votes.

Not satisfied with the declaration of INEC, Atiku, Obi, and other candidates proceeded to the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to dismiss Tinubu’s victory.

Meanwhile, the presiding Justice at the Presidential election petition, Tsammani, has warned lawyers against making sensational comments even as the tribunal has adjourned its sitting to Wednesday, May 10.