On Wednesday before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), the Labour Party (LP) and Peter Obi, its presidential candidate, were unable to continue their case.
The court scheduled more hearings on their petition for 9 a.m. on Wednesday, giving them four hours to continue presenting their case by calling additional witnesses and submitting documents.
An attorney for the petitioners, Awa Kalu (SAN), informed the court during the case’s mention on Wednesday that they had intended to begin with the presenting of documents but were hampered by issues at their secretariat.
Kalu said two key staff in the petitioners’ secretariat took ill, which has made it impossible for them to proceed with the business of the day.
He sought an adjustment till Thursday.
Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Wole Olanipekun (SAN) for Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettma, and Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not object to Kalu’s request for adjournment.
Mahmoud however urged the court to record the day against the petitioners and deduct it from the number of days earlier allocated to them to present their case.
Ruling, the Presiding Justice (PJ), Justice Haruna Tsammani granted Kalu’s request for adjournment and adjourned till 9 am on Thursday.
The petitioners also had a disappointing outing on Wednesday when they could only utilise a fraction of the three hours allocated to them.
They could only call a witness and tendered two sets of documents.
The PEPC plans to resume sitting at 2 pm for further hearing in the petition by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Atiku Abubakar.
Details shortly…