As part of speedy hearing of the presidential election petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar over alleged irregularities in the February 23, 2019 presidential election, the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday granted permission to serve their petition on President Muhammadu Buhari through substituted means.
The three-man bench which sat in a “pre-hearing session” of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal granted the request as contained in the petitioners’ ex parte application. The request was that President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the second respondent to the petition, be served through any senior official or an officer of the APC at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.
Granting the ex parte application, Justice Abdu Aboki, who led the panel and delivered the lead ruling, said “it is in the interest of justice” to grant the prayers in the petitioners’ application.
Lead counsel to PDP and Atiku, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), had earlier moved the application so as to avoid chances of bureaucracies frustrating direct service at the Presidential Villa.
Recall that both PDP and Atiku had on March 18, 2019, filed their case to challenge the Independent National Electoral Commission’s declaration of Buhari and his party, the APC, as the winner of the election.
The INEC, Buhari and the APC are the first to the third respondents respectively.
Legal observers say there is need for speedy trial so as to make sure that the legal tussle did not drag on for too long and cause distraction in the governance of the country especially now a lot of things are in need of serious attention including the economy and polity.
