Atiku vs Buhari: Presidential Tribunal Fixes New Date For Final Judgment

September 13 has been fixed by the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to deliver judgment on Atiku Abubakar‘s case against President Muhammadu Buhari.

YaahooJournalist reports that Abubakar, who was the 2019 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is challenging the outcome of the February 23 election which President Buhari won.

Before today, the Presidential tribunal had set September 15 to deliver judgment on the matter but the said date 15 is no longer realistic because it is a Sunday.

A report by LEADERSHIP quoted a source at the court told LEADERSHIP last night that the judgment will be delivered on Friday, September 13, which is to meet the 180 days case time according to the Nigerian law.

Section 134 (1) to (3) of the Electoral Act provides that an election petition should be filed, heard and determined within 180 days.

YaahooJournalist understands that the section was inserted into the ACT following a situation where election petitions took up to four years before being resolved, leading to the disruption of the political process in the country.

According to the source, “the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the February 23 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his party, will definitely be decided before September 15.

“They (the tribunal) cannot go beyond that date in deciding the petition one way or the other because, by law, that is how far they can go in the case. They can’t sit beyond that day. They are not permitted to do so by law. The 180 days stipulated by the law will elapse that day,’’ the source added.