The hearing of the presidential election petition case filed by the Labour Party and Peter Obi against President Bola Tinubu has been adjourned to June 1 due to the unexpected illness of two key staff members of Peter Obi’s legal team.
Counsel for the petitioners, Awa Kalu, SAN, requested the adjournment so that the necessary documents could be presented to the court on a later date.
As a result, their absence had disrupted the previous arrangement to present crucial documents before the court.
Kalu said “My lords, 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”
“It is with the greatest humility and apology that we make this application”
“I assure my lords that we will be here tomorrow morning and we will proceed with vigour.”
Recall that the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja on Tuesday admitted documents in evidence accusing President Bola Tinubu of drug offences in the United States.
The court accepted the documents as exhibits in the case filed by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, to challenge Mr Tinubu’s victory in the 25 February election.
After today’s prayer for adjournment by Kalu, SAN, the lawyers Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Wole Olanipekun (SAN) for Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettma, and Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not object to Kalu’s request for adjournment.
However, Mahmoud urged the court to record the day against the petitioners and deduct it from the number of days earlier allocated to them to present their case.
Ruling, the Presiding Justice (PJ), Justice Haruna Tsammani granted Kalu’s request for adjournment and adjourned till 9 am on Thursday.
