The electoral body was billed to begin its defence against a petition made by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) today.
By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to begin its defence before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) due to the failure of its first witness to make an appearance.
The electoral body was billed to begin its defence against a petition made by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) today.
However, when the case was called around 9:30 am, the counsel to INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), informed the court that the first of the three witnesses it had scheduled to call within the next three days was unavailable because of some family issues.
He, therefore, appealed for an adjournment till Tuesday to enable the witness to be present in court.
His request was accepted by counsel to other parties in the case – Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) for Obi/LP, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) for President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettma, and Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Presiding Justice, Justice Haruna Tsammani, thereafter adjourned till Tuesday by 9am for hearing.
The court will return at 2pm for the petition by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.