May 29 inauguration: I didn’t lose Feb. 25 election — Atiku
..Storms court with Dokpesi, Babangida, Secondus, others
…Seeks live broadcast of proceedings
…Court adjourns to May 18, Thursday
The battle to stop the swearing-in of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu declared President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) became more intense on Thursday as the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar alongside other political bigwigs in his party stormed the court to press the case seeking to nullify Tinubu’s victory.
Also present at the Thursday hearing of petitions and applications at the Presidential Election Petitions Court, (PEPC) sitting in Abuja, were the former Governors of Adamawa, Boni Haruna; Niger, Babangida Aliyu; Cross River, Liyel Imoke and Adamawa, Jubrilla Bindow as well as former National Chairman of PDP, Mr Uche Secondus, and Chairman of DAAR Communications, Mr Raymond Dokpesi who is in support of Atiku and the PDP.
The tribunal will be hearing Atiku and the PDP’s motions seeking live transmission of proceedings of the court as well as petitions challenging the outcome of the Feb. 25 Presidential Election.
Atiku’s who has placed before the court an application, pushing for live broadcast of the day-to-day proceedings with regard to his petition alongside his party, the PDP, are specifically asking the court for an order directing the court’s registry and the parties on modalities for the admission of media practitioners and their equipment into the courtroom.
The application filed on their behalf by their team of lawyers led by Mr. Chris Uche, SAN, is predicated on the grounds that the matter before the court is a dispute over the outcome of the Presidential Election held on Feb. 25.
In their argument, they submitted that the matter is of national concern and public interest, involving citizens and voters in the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who voted and participated in the said election.
They also said that the matter is critical because the international community is also interested as regards the workings of Nigeria’s electoral process.
According to Atiku, being a unique electoral dispute with a peculiar constitutional dimension, it is a matter of public interest where of millions of Nigerian citizens and voters are stakeholders with a constitutional right to receive.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Election Petition Court on Thursday adjourned the matter in space of a week, to Thursday, May 18, 2023, for the continuation of the pre-hearing of the petition by the Atiku and the PDP against Tinubu, of the APC.
In the petition marked CA/PEPC/05/2023, the PDP and Atiku are challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the President-elect by INEC.
Listed as 1st to 3rd respondents in the petition are the INEC, President-elect, Tinubu, and the APC.
The pre-hearing of the petition was taken first on Thursday morning after counsel for Atiku and PDP, Chris Uche (SAN), indicated an interest in the matter.
….I didn’t lose Presidential election
Meanwhile, Atiku on Thursday argued that against all odds, he did not lose the February 25 presidential election.
In an address to outgoing and incoming Governors elected on the platform of the PDP, at a reception and award ceremony organised by the PDP Governors forum, in Abuja, on Thursday, Atiku however wished for more time for all the issues and challenges, facing his party to be discussed.
Atiku who admonished Party faithful to keep faith and remain focused on the task ahead which according to him is the recovery of the party’s stolen mandate, implored party members to give commitment and unravel the mystery behind how the PDP slipped from being the oldest and dominant political party in 1999 to its present drifting state.
