How Peter Obi Can Get Judgement at PEPT and Supreme Court Before May 29 – Constitutional Lawyer
I’ve seen/read a lot of Tinubu supporters making statements like “the case will drag on for 3 years” and similar things in response to Peter Obi’s case in court against Tinubu’s victory in the last election.
Well, do not know if they have been making those statements out of ignorance or they deliberately want to misinform the public.
Well, I’m here to educate them and the rest of Nigerians, that Election Petition dragging on for years is a thing of the past that has been taken care of by Amendments to the constitution.
This amendment was made to ensure that wrong candidates who were wrongly declared at the polls do not enjoy the privilege of such office for years before being booted out of office through the courts.
To this end, the lifespan of Election Petition Tribunals was pegged at 90 days for each the Election Petition Tribunal, Appeal Court and Supreme Court. That’s cumulative of 270 days that an election thief can hold onto a stolen mandate from the time that the petition was filed in court.
This is the reason why the former governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha, spent just about 8 months in power before he was sacked by the Supreme Court. Again, if you have followed Election Petitions in recent years in Nigeria, you’d have realized that no Election Petition has lasted up to one year from the Tribunal to the Supreme Court.
However, it becomes different in the Presidential Election Petition because the Presidential election petition originates at the Appeal Court and not the High Court/Tribunal. What this means is that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal MUST decide the petition within 90 days from the day the case was filed in court. Any party who disagrees with the ruling of PEPT would now proceed to Supreme Court which MUST also give its ruling within 90 days.
What this means is that the PEPT can decide to give judgment within 30 days or 50 days, but MUST not exceed 90 days. Same thing applies to the Supreme Court.
This goes to say that if Peter Obi and his Lawyers push for a speedy trial as many people are advocating, and get it, the election petition can be decided before May 29th.
Meanwhile, Tinubu and his Lawyers have 21 days from the day they were served with the Petitioner(s) case to respond to the case. They have just about 6 days to that after which trials will begin proper.
So, next time you hear Tinubu boys say that the Election Petition can drag on till infinity, just laugh at their ignorance and move on.
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