Appeal Court Grants Peter Obi’s Request To Serve Petition On Bola Tinubu

The Court of Appeal has granted permission to the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi to challenge the victory of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.

The court ordered that Tinubu, the presidential election of the All Progressives Congress (APC), should be served with copies of petitions seeking to nullify his election, through substituted means.

In the ex parte application, Obi noted that the bailiff of the Court of Appeal made “unsuccessful attempts to serve the petition personally on” Messrs Tinubu and the vice president-elect, Kashim Shettima.

Obi’s counsel, Ikechukwu Ezechukwu (SAN), in the ex-parte application, asked the appellate court to grant him and the Labour Party leave to serve the petition on Tinubu and Shettima, through substituted means.

Ezechukwu argued that it has been necessary to serve the court filings through “substituted means” on Tinubu and Shettima owing to heightened security protection around the president-elect and vice president-elect.

The lawyer urged the court to permit Obi to serve the court documents on Tinubu and Shettima through the office of the legal adviser of the APC.

Ruling on the application, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, led by Haruna Tsammani, granted Obi’s request the petion through substituted means, in lieu of personal service.

The court ordered that the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 and other accompanying processes be served on Messrs Tinubu and Shettima “by delivering or pasting” at either the office of the National Legal Adviser of the APC or at the office of an officer of the party at its National Secretariat in Abuja.

The court cited APC’s National Secretariat’s location to be at No.40 Blantyre Street, Off Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse 2, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

KanyiDaily recalls that Peter Obi, who came third in the presidential election, filed a petition at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja seeking to overturn Bola Tinubu’s victory.