The Supreme Court will on Monday, October 23, 2023 begin hearing of the appeals by Mr. Peter Obi and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on the tribunal judgement that affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.

CITY LAWYER gathered that hearing notices for the appeals were sent to the legal teams of the presidential candidates today.

Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, filed an appeal at the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) affirming Tinubu’s election.

Another appeal was filed by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, challenging the PEPC’s verdict which was delivered on September 6, 2023.

Obi and Atiku had filed separate petitions at the PEPC accusing Nigeria’s electoral umpire, INEC, and Tinubu of electoral malpractices. They contested Tinubu’s qualification to stand for election and urged the PEPC to set aside the election.

But the court, in its decision, held that they failed to substantiate their claims of electoral fraud against INEC and the president.

In his notice of appeal dated September 19, Obi’s lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu, predicated his client’s appeal to the Supreme Court on 51 grounds, stating that the five-member panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court led by Haruna Tsammani “erred in law and thereby reached a wrong conclusion” when it dismissed Obi’s suit.

Obi argued that the lower court’s conclusions caused “grave miscarriage of justice” when it held that Obi did not identify the specific number of votes he polled at polling units where he accused INEC and Tinubu of suppression of votes.