Election Petition Tribunal: Tinubu Not Running Away – Lawyer Gives Update

The Legal Director of the Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council, Babatunde Ogala has denied claims that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is running away from getting served court papers regarding the petition against his victory at the polls.

Ogala also denied claims that Tinubu travelled out of the country in order to frustrate and delay the process at the election petition tribunal against his victory.

This is as he revealed that Tinubu can’t respond to the petitions filed at the election tribunal by the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his counterpart in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar when he has not been served a notice.

The lawyer disclosed that his principal had not been served the petition against him before he travelled out of the country.

The development is coming at a time the LP and PDP camps have accused the Tinubu camp of intentionally delaying the process by avoiding court papers.

Based on the complaint, the election tribunal sitting in Abuja has ordered Obi and Atiku to serve him with copies of petitions seeking to nullify his election through substituted means, specifically through his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Chief Spokesman of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, was quoted by Punch to have expressed disappointment that the recent vacation trip embarked upon by Tinubu was another ploy to avoid being served the papers.

He said, “They deliberately frustrated the process. That man (Tinubu) practically ran out of the country after evading being served the notice. But our party will serve him the notice through the APC. I am sure they must have received it by now.”

However, Ogala has rubbished such claims, insisting that they have not been served any notice. He added that there is no truth in claims that his principal also left the country to evade being served the notice.

“How can we fix a date for that? We will file our response before the time lapses,” he said.

Ogala pointed out that Tinubu’s absence would not stall the process as speculated.

“That is false. In fact, as of this morning, Tinubu has not been served a copy of the petition. They only obtained an order for substituted service on Friday. So they have to serve him. The earliest they can serve is Monday and he has 21 days from there.

“So when you have not served somebody, you cannot expect him to respond. Until we are served the petition copy, that’s when our time will start counting,” he said.