On Thursday, Atiku’s made his first appearance at the Presidential Election Petition since its sitting started on Monday.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has arrived at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja for Thursday’s hearing of his petition seeking to overturn Bola Tinubu’s victory.
Atiku was a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 25 February presidential election.
But Mr Tinubu’s of the All Progressives Congress (APC) clinched the presidency after polling 8.8 million votes to beat Atiku and Labour Party’s Peter Obi in the race.
Atiku and Mr Obi are in their separate petitions challenging the outcome of the election, on various grounds including Nigeria’s electoral commission, INEC, of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
They also alleged manipulation of the electoral process by INEC in favour of Mr Tinubu.
They prayed in their separate petitions to be declared the president or order a fresh poll.
Thursday makes Atiku’s first appearance in court since the five-member panel began sitting on Monday. But Mr Obi, on his part, has been attending court whenever his case came up since Monday,
Atiku attended the ongoing pre-hearing sessions of the petitions in company with Dino Melaye, Kogi State PDP governorship candidate, and other party stalwarts.
A five-member panel of the Court headed by Haruna Tsammani, fixed today, Thursday, for hearing of Atiku’s request for a live broadcast of the court’s proceedings.
He had argued in court filings that a telecast of the hearing would boost Nigerians’ confidence in the court as it would enhance transparency.