On Wednesday, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja postponed the pre-hearing in the suit filed by Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, against President-elect Bola Tinubu, until Friday, May 19.
The court presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, set the date after the petition’s parties failed to reach an agreement on documents, among other things.
On the petitioners’ request, the Tribunal had last week postponed the pre-hearing session for Obi and the LP’s plea until May 17.
But on Wednesday, when the justices came to start the day’s proceedings, they likewise declined to recognize the party’s presence outside of Obi, despite the fact that both the LP National leader, Julius Abure, and the party’s factional leader, Lamidi Apapa, were present in court.
The issue of which LP camp should appear in court led to some little drama between the two groups.
When the petition was summoned, the LP’s acting national chairman, Lamidi Apapa, and national women’s leader, Dudu Manugu, attempted to appear on behalf of the party, but the Tribunal refused to accept their appearance.
Justice Haruna Tsamani stated that if two people are appearing for LP, their appearances won’t be recorded.