The Presidential Election Petition Court has adjourned till Thursday, June 1, for the continuation of the hearing on Peter Obi’s petition challenging the 2023 presidential election on the request of his lawyers.
Obi, through his team of lawyers led by Awa Kalu, told the court at the resumed hearing on Wednesday that two of his key staff members suddenly fell ill, which has affected his plans to tender critical documents before the court today.
“Our plan for today’s proceedings was to start with the presentation of our documents, but unfortunately, we had some unexpected development. The unexpected development concerns the sudden illness of two of our key staff, for which reason I am constrained to ask for an adjournment till tomorrow,” Kalu said.
“We are constrained to pray for an adjournment till tomorrow.”
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All respondents in Obi’s petition did not oppose the application, consequently, the presiding Justice of the five-Man panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani gave the adjournment at the instance of the petitioner.
Before granting the adjournment, the justice however expressed concern over time slot for the petitions.
“If a party is asking for adjournment in a Presidential Election Petition Court, it is eating into your time,” Tsammani said.
The court had given Obi and his lawyers three weeks from May 30, to present 50 witnesses that would prove their case.
Obi’s legal team, on Tuesday presented one witness and tendered five documents as evidence for now, including a United States District Court judgement on Tinubu’s forfeiture of 460,000 US dollars allegedly linked to drug trafficking.
During an interview with journalists, Kalu assured that the adjournment would not be a setback on their case. He said he was confident to produce all his witnesses and evidence within the remaining 19 days given to them by the court.
