Tight Security As Presidential Election Petition Court Delivers Judgment

As the Presidential Election Petition Court prepares to issue its ruling, there is intense security at the Court of Appeal Complex, which is located in the Three Arms Zone, Shehu Shagari Way, Central Business District of Abuja.

The ruling relates to three cases that contested the results of the presidential election on February 25.

This decision was made roughly a month after the court heard the parties’ final arguments in the petitions and about two weeks before the statutory 180-day deadline for hearing and deciding the cases filed in March.

After hearing the parties’ final arguments in the cases in early August, the five-member panel of the court, led by Haruna Tsammani, deferred decisions on the petitions.

All roads leading to court of the appeal complex is being manned by multiple security operatives, drawn from various arms, including the armed forces, police, men of the Department of State Service (DSS) and the Civil Defence.

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The same formation has been placed within in the court complex.

The Chief Registrar of the Court, Mr Umar Bangari in a statement on Monday said that everything had been put in place to ensure that the judgment in the three petitions pending before the court were delivered hitch free.

Bangari said adequate security had been put in place and that only the invited members of political parties and the general public would be allowed into the court room.

This he said was to avoid congestion and security breaches.

He also said media houses that wish to televise the judgment live would be allowed to do so but at no cost to the court.

NAN reports that as at 7.30 a.m., lawyers and journalists were being checked by security operatives.

NAN reports that major government buildings, including the Federal Secretariat, the National Assembly Complex and the access into the Presidential Villa were being manned by heavy security personnel.

NAN reports that petitions were filed separately by Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of the

Labour Party and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), to challenging President Tinubu’s victory.

NAN reports that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had, declared Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 8.8 million votes to defeat 17 other candidates in what was largely a three horse race.

Atiku polled a total of 6,984,520 votes in the election to come second, while Obi came behind Atiku with a total of 6,101,533 votes, according to INEC. (NAN)

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