Presidential poll: Heavy security as tribunal decides Atiku, Obi’s petitions against Tinubu
Before the ruling on the election petitions contesting the election of President Bola Tinubu was delivered on Wednesday (today), there was strong security deployment at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and other flash points and dark areas in Abuja on Tuesday.
This occurred as Atiku Abubakar’s PDP followers, Peter Obi’s Labour Party supporters, and President Tinubu’s PDP supporters eagerly anticipated the results.
The petitioners’ supporters have been trading insults online while also expressing hope that their candidates will be given the benefit of the doubt.
Numerous armed riot police officers, members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and other plainclothes security personnel were stationed at key points within the Federal Capital Territory prior to the ruling in an attempt to avert any potential disruption of law and order.
Justice Haruna Tsammani, the tribunal’s chairman, will deliver the verdict with assistance from Justices Stephen Adah, Moses Ugo, Abba Mohammed, and Monsurat Bolaji-Yusuf.
The Court of Appeal, located in Abuja’s Three Arms Zone, will host the proceedings.
The tribunal judgement is scheduled to be given on Wednesday and broadcast live on television stations, according to a statement released on Monday by Umar Bangari, the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal headquarters.
He stated that this was being done to encourage openness and transparency and to allow Nigerians to see the process.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, proclaimed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress the winner of the presidential election on March 1 after he received 8.8 million votes, defeating the 6.9 million votes of PDP candidate Atiku, the 6.1 million votes of the Liberal Party’s Obi, and fifteen other candidates.
Nonetheless, the results of the surveys were contested by five of the eighteen political parties who ran in the elections.
Other groups who felt wronged, in addition to the PDP and the LP, were the Action Alliance, the Action People’s Party, and the Allied Peoples Movement.
The two leading candidates, Atiku and Obi, requested that the tribunal declare the former Lagos governor’s victory in the presidential election on February 25 invalid.
The authorities heavily deployed security troops throughout the Federal Capital Territory on Monday in advance of the proceedings.
At approximately 6:50 p.m., a convoy of police officers was transported to the Court of Appeal. The officers’ cars were utilized to blockade the court’s entrance, and other officers were also on patrol across the city in their vehicles.
No sooner had they been transported to the court premises than a police crew was observed receiving orders from their superiors.
An employee of the court observed that there was a notice informing the staff not to report to work on Wednesday, stating that there would be a significant number of security personnel on the court grounds.
The official stated, “There will be a heavy presence of security operatives in strategic locations at the court premise, which is part of the reason workers were told not to come tomorrow (today).”
According to information obtained by our correspondent, there will be strict controls over entrance to the courthouse and potential frisking of plaintiffs and attorneys before they enter.
Numerous operatives were observed in key spots within the Three Arms Zone, Julius Berger, Area One, Wuse, and additional city areas.
