LAGOS, NIGERIA (VOICE OF NAIJA) – After a four-month-long legal tussle, the five-man panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja will deliver judgement on petitions challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, September 6.
As reported in May, The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal merged the petitions submitted by the various political parties while giving the pre-hearing report on the petition and presenting the trial schedule.
voiceofnaija.ng reported that former Supreme Court Justice of Nigeria, Mary Odili, offered her expertise and perspective on the ongoing discussion surrounding the Election Petition Tribunal. She regarded Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN (Tinubu’s lawyer) and Lateef Fagbemi, the current Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation as exceptional in their field.
She criticized those who believed that harassing judges could alter the outcome of the election tribunal’s judgment and jeopardize the nation for personal gain.
Five political parties including the PDP, LP, Action Peoples Party (APP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and the Action Alliance (AA) had lodged separate petitions before the tribunal seeking to invalidate Tinubu’s victory.
Despite the court’s decision not being final, with the possibility of an appeal to the Supreme Court, there is a prevailing sentiment that the jurists’ ruling will strongly influence the ultimate decision of the Supreme Court.
Justice Stephen Adah
Justice Stephen Adah, was born on June 13, 1957.
He is the presiding Justice of the Asaba Division of the Court of Appeal, and originally from the Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Adah obtained his LL.B degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1981. He attended the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, for his BL in 1982.
He was appointed a judge of the Federal High Court on November 12, 1998, and later elevated to the Court of Appeal on November 5, 2012. He served as a member of the three-man panel that granted Obi and Atiku’s motions to serve Tinubu their petitions by substituted means.
He led the panel that affirmed Ifeanyi Ubah as a Senator after his sack over alleged certificate forgery.
Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani
Justice Haruna Tsammani was born on November 23, 1959. He hails from Tafawa Balewa LGA of Bauchi State.
The judge completed his Law degree at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in 1982 before attending the Nigerian Law School, Lagos for his BL in 1983.
He commenced his judicial career as a High Court judge in Bauchi State on September 17, 1998.
He was promoted to the Court of Appeal on July 16, 2010.
Justice Tsammani has presided over a wide range of significant cases, including election disputes and financial matters. Notably, he was at the helm during the VAT case, a high-stakes legal battle between the Rivers State Government and the federal government.
As the longest-serving Justice of the Court of Appeal on the five-man panel, Justice Tsammani has spent half of his 24 years as a judge on the Court of Appeal bench.
Justice Tsammani prepared the lead judgment that dismissed Abiola Ajimobi’s petition challenging the judgment of the 2019 Election Petition Tribunal which had on November 19, the same year, upheld PDP’s Kola Balogun as the winner of the senatorial election for Oyo South held on February that year for lacking in merit.
He delivered the lead judgment of the court that handed back the control of APC in Kano State to the outgoing governor, Abdullahi Gaduje, in February 2022.
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He also led the panel of the court that gave the October 2022 judgment suspending the release of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from custody after the charges against the secessionist were dismissed in an earlier judgment of the court.
Justice Mistura Bolaji-Yusuf
Justice Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf is the only female member of the five-man panel of the court. She was born on August 7, 1959, and hails from Oyo West LGA of Oyo State.
The judge obtained her LL.B degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 1983. She attended the Nigerian Law School the following year for her BL certificate.
She was appointed a Judge of the High Court of Oyo State on January 30, 1997, and later elevated to the Court of Appeal on March 24, 2014.
She delivered the lead judgment of the three-man panel of the Benin Division of the Court of Appeal that affirmed the first-term election of Governor Godwin Obaseki in June 2017.
Justice Abba Mohammed
Justice Abba Mohammed, a native of Kano State, was born on February 19, 1961. He pursued his legal education at the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained his LL.B degree in 1984. The following year, in 1985, he furthered his legal studies at the Nigerian Law School in Lagos to obtain his BL Certificate.
He was promoted to the Court of Appeal on June 28, 2021 after serving for about 10 years as Abuja High Court judge. He was the Chairman of the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Tribunal in 2019.
Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo
Justice Ugo earned his LL.B degree from the University of Calabar in 1989. He then attended the Nigerian Law School in Lagos in the following year to obtain his BL certificate. On March 21, 2006, he was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Bayelsa State. Later, on March 24, 2014, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal.
Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo is the youngest among the judges on the PEPT panel. He hails from Kolokuma/Opokua Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.