Presidential Election Petition Court grants Atiku permission to serve Tinubu with papers

FORMER vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has been granted permission by the Presidential Election Petition Court to serve president-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with his petition.

On Saturday February 25, Nigerians went to the polls to elect a new president and the Independent National Election Commission (Inec) subsequently declared Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the APC, the winner. Among the main gladiators in the contest were Asiwaju Tinubu of APC, Alhaji Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party and former Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

Inec chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who served as the returning officer for the presidential election, declared Asiwaju Tinubu the victor of the contest with 8,794,726 votes, defeating Alhaji Abubakar of the PDP, who came second with 6,984,520 votes and Governor Obi who came third with 6,101,533 votes. However, the PDP and Labour Party have refused to accept the results.

With the legal challenge now well and truly under way, Alhaji Abubakar and the PDP have been granted permission serve their petitions on Asiwaju Tinubu through the APC. A three-member panel sitting in Abuja presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani also granted permission to Peter Obi of the Labour Party to serve his petitions on Senator Kashim Shettima and Kabir Masari through the APC.

This three-member panel granted the request while ruling on three separate ex-parte applications filed by Atiku and the PDP, another buy Peter Obi and the Labour Party and another filed by the Allied Peoples Movement. Arguing the motion on behalf of Atiku and the PDP,  Eyitayo Jegede prayed the court to grant his client permission to serve the petition and other accompanying processes on the respondents through the APC.