Atiku Vs Buhari: When Tribunal Will Hold 1st Sitting Revealed

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) will hold its inaugural sitting on Wednesday.

It was reported that a notice for the preliminary sitting of the tribunal would be issued this week, the PEPT issued the notice on Monday.

The notice was served on all the parties to the petitions, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday.

Others that were said to have been served through their lawyers included the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari, the PDP and its presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential elections, Atiku Abubakar.

The five-man panel that will hear the PDP‎ and Atiku’s petition is to be led by the President of the Court of Appeal.

The tribunal has three other petitions by various political parties and their candidates ‎to hear.

The Punch had reported on Monday that the PEPT ‎was, this week, expected to issue the notice for the pre-hearing session on the petition filed by the PDP and Atiku.

The tribunal will, during the pre-hearing session which the Electoral Act provides must be completed within 14 days, fix “clear dates” for the hearing of the petition.

The five-man tribunal has 180 days’ period from the date of filing of the petition on March 18 to hear and deliver its judgment in the case in which the petitioners said they had assembled about 400 witnesses to testify.