Jumoke Olasunkanmi
As the 2023 election petition tribunal delivers its judgement today, a group of protesters under the umbrella of Niger Delta for Tinubu has stormed the premises of the Court of Appeal In Abuja.
The tribunal is set to announce rulings on the petitions challenging president Bola Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election.
The protesters dressed in black and red garb crested with former militant and the president’s ally’s name, Asari Dokubo’, were holding placards with inscriptions such as ‘Thank you President Tinubu for Restoring the Niger Delta Ministry’ and ‘Niger Deltans stand with the mandate given to BAT by over 200 million Nigerians’.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Abubakar Atiku and Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) challenged the result as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 1 on the grounds of failure to garner a 25 per cent vote in the Federal Capital Territory and his past forfeiture of monies linked to drug pushing, and forged school certificate, among others.
The tribunal ruling which was fixed for September 6 on Monday had faced criticisms for coming on a short notice.