The Action Alliance (AA) party, one of the petitioners against Tinubu, suddenly withdrew its petitions, announced at the start of the tribunal pre-hearing.
The party had complained in their petition that its real candidate, Solomon Okanigbuan, was missing from the list uploaded to the INEC portal.
As the hearing resumed, the petition by the AA was called and parties announced their appearances.
Solomon Okanigbuan was in court and his party, AA, was represented by the its chairman, Adekunle Omo-aje, who also announced his presence.
Though Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau State, had introduced himself as Tinubu’s representative, the court said he could only represent APC, and not Tinubu.
Following this, Oba Maduabuchi announced his appearance for the AA.
However, there was confusion as Malachi Umuebe also announced his presence for the same party.
To affirm his position as the AA representative, Maduabuchi asked the court to withdraw the party’s petition entirely. He demanded the withdrawal of the party’s name from the petition, saying it did not consent to being part of the petition.
He cited the Court of Appeal judgment which, according to him, said, “You people are not even members of Action Alliance” adding that he would not like to drag the court into the matter.
Maduabuchi said, “My prayers are that upon withdrawal, the petition be dismissed adding that “I have been served by the respondents that they are not opposing.”
In response, counsel for the respondent, Abubakar Mahmoud, told the court that it has no objection to the withdrawal.
In a brief ruling, Justice Tsammani announced that the “petition is hereby dismissed.”
The AA has since been deliberating over who is the leader.
Recall that Expressive Info reported that the pre-hearing over petitions against the President-elect, Tinubu, will be held at the Appeal Court in Abuja on Monday, 8th May. It also reported who the Justices to lead the hearing over the petitions that would arise. The justices are the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Haruna Tsammani; Justice Stephen Adah of the Court of Appeal Asaba division, Justice Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf, Court of Appeal also of Asaba Division; Justice Boloukuoromo Ugoh of Kano division and Justice Abba Mohammed of Ibadan Court of Appeal.
