The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has ordered the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party LP, Mr Peter Gregory Obi and his party to present their joint petition against the February 25 presidential election within three weeks.
The Court also ordered the President elect who is the target of the petition, Bola Tinubu to defend his victory at the election along with the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC within five days.
Obi through his counsel, Professor Awa Kalu SAN had requested for seven weeks to establish their allegations against the disputed election that produced Tinubu.
Chairman of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani issued the order on Tuesday while presenting the pre- hearing sessions report of the Court.
Among others, Justice Tsammani ordered that Obi must open his petition for hearing on May 30 and end same on June 23.
The Court said that it arrived at the decision because of the limited time within which the petition must be disposed off.
Immediately after the order of the Court was handed down, Obi who was in court to witness the proceedings took permission from the court and left on the ground that they were going to prepare for the full blown hearing of the petition.
Meanwhile, the legal team to the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has placed a ban on media interview throughout the defense of the President elect in the three petitions against him.
The legal team ordered that any lawyer that flouts the ban, no matter his rank or how highly placed, would be kicked out of the defense team.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN, Adeniyi Akintola conveyed the decision of the team to the court at the Tuesday’s proceedings.
Akintola did not adduce any reason on why the ban was adopted.
He said that the same ban has been extended to their client and President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The senior lawyer said that the ban on media interview by the legal team would be strictly observed and enforced.
Chairman of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani however did not react to the decision when presented in the open court.