The Presidential Election Petitions Court has criticised the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for their lack of preparedness in the ongoing petition challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the court session on Thursday witnessed a disorganised display from the petitioners’ legal team, prompting the court to adjourn the hearing temporarily.
During the proceedings, Emeka Okpoko, a senior lawyer representing the petitioners, attempted to submit electoral documents as exhibits.
However, it was revealed that these documents had not been appropriately filed and scheduled before the court.
In response, the court halted the hearing for 10 minutes, urging the legal team to rectify the filing errors in line with the pre-hearing report.
Upon reconvening, the petitioners’ legal team remained uncoordinated, disappointing the five-person panel of Justices led by Haruna Tsammani.
The panel advised the petitioners to request an adjournment to adequately organise their documents, expressing their dissatisfaction with the wasted time caused by the counsels’ lack of preparation.
The justices emphasised that the magnitude of the task had been underestimated.
In a somewhat defiant response, Awa Kalu, another senior lawyer from the petitioners’ team, stated that they would not be seeking the adjournment suggested by the court.
Instead, they planned to present evidence from 16 Local Government Areas, with six states already being tendered by the Labour Party.
This newspaper learnt that the court has adjourned the case to June 2 for the continuation of the hearing, awaiting a more coherent presentation from the petitioners’ legal team.
