Judgement is around the corner.
In the week ahead the Presidential Election Petition Court, (PEPC) will deliver its verdict on the 2023 Presidential Election.
What will the decision of the court portend for Nigeria’s political growth and democracy consolidation?
Whether President Tinubu triumphs over his adversaries or the other way round, given the presence of social media, there is no doubt that this is one of the most followed in Nigeria’s presidential election petitions history.
All the parties in the case have played their roles the rest is now in the hands of the court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani
“The judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court is one that will make history or make misery,’’ says Mr Emmanuel Ogebe, a United States-based human rights lawyer.
Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) as well as Mr Peter Obi and the Labour Party are challenging the outcome of the Feb. 25 presidential election at the PEPC.
On Aug.1, parties in the petition were summoned by the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel of justices to adopt their final addresses which would give room for the final judgment.
The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that the adoption of final addresses is the precursor to fixing a date for judgment.
This battle before judgment is delivered is also referred to as closing or final arguments whereby parties bring together all the arguments they had canvassed in one single document.
In this case, as directed by the five-member panel of justices, it was a forty-page document.
The final address gives counsel the opportunity to emphasise, highlight and buttress their key points in adumbrations which simply put is the act of giving the main facts and not details about something.
The atmosphere around the Court of Appeal premises, where the PEPC is sitting on the day of the adoption of the final address was different.
Atiku whose only appearance in court was during the its inaugural sitting on March 8 was present on this day.
Obi had been a regular in court from day one but on this day, there was something unique about his entourage.
The award winning author, Chimamanda Adichie was part of the supporters that followed Obi to court.
This did not go unnoticed as several fans thronged the section of the court reserved for the petitioners and their supporters, to get a closer glimpse of her, shake her hand, and of course take pictures.
Tsammani announced that the time allotted to each counsel to adopt their address and adumbrate was 20 minutes.
It is important to note that the court had alternated the time for the petitioners’ to be in court between morning and afternoon shifts each week.
On this day, Atiku and the PDP had the morning session.
The three respondents; the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, (APC) took turns adopting their 40-paged final addresses.
Mr Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, counsel to INEC prayed the court to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit.
Mahmoud insisted that the presidential election was validly conducted in substantial compliance with all the relevant laws.
Mr Wole Olanipekin, SAN, counsel to Tinubu also prayed the court to dismiss the petition for grossly lacking in merit and substance.
The senior lawyer maintained that the petitioners failed to place valid evidence before the court to assist it in delivering a judgement in their favour.
“No where did the petitioner draw the court’s attention to the number of votes scored by him, the court is not a “father Christmas”.
“The court cannot give to the petitioners what they did not ask for,” Olanipekun said.
