Peter Obi and the Labour Party have suffered a setback at the presidential election petition tribunal.
This comes as the tribunal dismissed an application filed by the Labour Party (LP).
The application seeks to question the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the technology deployed for the conduct of the election.
Politics Nigeria reports that the five-member panel led by Haruna Tsammani held that the tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to grant the request because it was brought outside the pre-hearing session.
The application, tagged CA/PEPC/03/2023, was filed by the LP and Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate.
At the hearing, the tribunal unanimously ruled that the applicants failed to disclose any extreme circumstance that stopped them from filing within the statutory time.
The court said motions could not be heard at the hearing session.
“It is an afterthought because the pre-hearing period to file such an application elapsed on May 22. I have not disputed that they did not call the court’s attention during the pre-hearing session.
“It is for the applicant to take a step towards the hearing of his motion on notice. The court cannot do that for him. The petitioners’ counsel is very conversant with the provisions of the law and did not ask for an extension of time.
“They rather seek to employ the right to fair hearing as a magic wand to escape the consequence of their failure to comply with the law and blame the court for its inaction.
“Their application is incompetent, and the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain it, and accordingly, the application is struck out,” Tsammani said.
