Tinubu Dodging Petitions as Appeal Court Grants Obi and Atiku Permission to Serve Him through…

There are indications that President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is dodging being served petitions from Peter Obi of Labour Party.

According to lawyers of the Labour Party’s Presidential candidate who accused Tinubu of dodging the petitions they filed to nullify his victory in last month’s election, the President-elect has been unreachable giving the heightened security protection around him and the vice president-elect since they have been pronounced the winner by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC).

ENigeria Newspaper reports that also joining the allegation against Tinubu is Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). According to the duo, Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, is dodging their petitions which left them with no choice but to approach the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in Abuja PEPC seeking permission to serve the petitions on him through substituted means.

In their applications, both Atiku and Obi complained that their efforts to serve Tinubu personally had failed. They rejected the outcome of the February 25 election, which they claim was rigged in Tinubu’s favor.
Ikechukwu Ezechukwu (SAN) Counsel to Peter Obi, in an exparte application, asked the appellate court to grant Obi and the Labour Party leave to serve the petition on Tinubu and the Vice President-Elect, Kashim Shettima, through substituted means.

The lawyer urged the court to permit Obi to serve the court documents on Tinubu and Shettima through the office of the legal adviser of the APC.

Ruling on the application, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, led by Haruna Tsammani, granted Obi’s request.
The court ordered that the petition be served on Tinubu and Shettima “by delivering…or pasting the petition No: CA/PEPC/03/2023 and all other processes filed in the petition at either the office of the National Legal Adviser of the” APC or…with any other officer of the APC “at its National Secretariat at No.40 Blantyre Street, Off Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse 2, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

READ ALSO: Tinubu opens up on secret meeting with CJN Ariwoola

In the exparte application, Mr Obi noted that the bailiff of the Court of Appeal made “unsuccessful attempts to serve the petition personally on” Messrs Tinubu and Shettima.

In their petitions, both Obi and Atiku accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of violating its own electoral regulations and guidelines.
They also claimed that Tinubu was not qualified to participate in the presidential contest and did not receive the highest number of lawful votes.

They alleged that the votes credited to the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate were wasted votes due to corrupt practices that marred the election.
Both Obi and Atiku insisted that they won the election and asked the court to either declare them the winners or order a fresh election.

Source: ENigeria Newspaper