Presidential poll: Tribunal adjourns Atiku, PDP’s motion to July 1
Andrew Orolua, Abuja
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday adjourned further hearing of the application brought by Atiku Abubakar and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking an extension of time to respond to All Progressives Congress (APC) earlier application to July 1.
When the two applications filed by the All Progressives Congress were heard on June 11, lawyer for the APC, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), withdrew one of the applications that were responded to by the petitioners’ lawyers.
Fagbemi (SAN) opted for the application that had no response and adopted it, stressing that the affidavit attached to it was unchallenged.
Though, the petitioners lead counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), application for an amendment of their response to reflect on the APC application was argued and granted, the petitioners probably, out of abundance of caution, applied for time to appropriately respond to it.
When the application came up for hearing on Wednesday, Atiku and the PDP’s counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), informed the tribunal that he was “served with Buhari’s response at the tribunal this (Wednesday) morning and he needed time to respond on point of law.”
He, therefore, applied for an adjournment. Uche (SAN) also urged the tribunal to proceed with pre- hearing session at least for parties to list how many witnesses they intend to call.
Though, Yunus Usman (SAN), Yusuf Ali (SAN) and Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) lead lawyers for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Muhammad Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) respectively, did not oppose the application for adjournment, they vehemently objected to the listing of their witnesses when there are still pending applications.
They maintained that it will be tidy to conclude hearing on all pending applications before the listing of witnesses and allocation of time to the parties to present their cases can be scheduled.
Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Mohammed Garba, in a brief ruling adjourned to July 1 for the hearing of Atiku and PDP’s application and for continuation of pre- hearing.
It would be recalled that Chief Fagbemi, who on June 11 withdrew his first application filed on May 14, had informed the court that the petitioners only replied and filed their counter -affidavit to the motion he had withdrawn.
He, therefore, urged the tribunal to hold that his two other applications were unchallenged.
