By Brave Dickson
The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar and that of the Labour Party, Peter Obi have formally closed their cases against the All Progressives Congress Presidential Candidate, Bola Tinubu.
After the 2023 Presidential election, Atiku and Obi went to the presidential election petition tribunal, challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the elected president by INEC.
What the closing of case by the petitioners which tool place on Friday means is that Atiku and Obi are done with the tendering of evidence before the election court.
Speaking with our correspondent shortly after the tribunal sitting, the lead counsel of Atiku’s legal team, Chris Uche, SAN said: “We fielded our last witnesses today (Friday) and we have tendered very critical documents regarding the academic qualification of Bola Tinubu, his NYSC certificate and forfeiture judgment from the United States of America among others.
“All these documents were admitted by the election court and we were able to round off our case after calling 27 witnesses as the law permits us. So, we have concluded the tendering of evidence by the petitioners.
“The next stage is for the respondents to open their defence and put forward their own witnesses and it will now be our turn to cross examine the repondents’ witnesses.
“When the repondents finish calling their witnesses, they too will formally close their defence and the parties will now address the court on the issues of law.
“That is why sometimes when questions are asked, we say these are matters for address because these are legal issues that at the end of the day, we will address this honourable court.
“We are very happy that we have finished the pre-hearing and now we have concluded the presentation of the petitioners’ case. So, we now wait for the repondents to commence their defences.
The election court however adjourned the matter till July 3 for the hearing of the repondents’ defences.
