Supreme Court Thrashes PDP’s New Evidence for Lack of Jurisdiction

*Says: “This court, the Supreme Court, also has no jurisdiction to allow the deposition to be used in this appeal. It is settled law…”

The Supreme Court of Nigeria, on Thursday, dismissed the application by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate representing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 Presidential Election,  to submit fresh evidence in his case which he filed asking the court to void the pronouncement of the All-Progressives Congress’ candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as president.

According to a report by Arise TV, Justice Inyang Okoro, who led the seven-member panel of justices, while reading the judgement, said, “The 180 days imposed for hearing of election petitions is immutable and cannot be extended.”

He went on to say “My noble lords, I have taken time to state the law on the issue to show the futility of this motion. It cannot be granted. The jurisdiction of this court is donated by the constitution and the electoral act regarding election petition appeals. We do not have the varace to admit this deposition, and we cannot invoke section 22 of the supreme court act, since the lower court has since lost its jurisdiction. Moreso, there is no paragraph in the petition to accommodate a case of forgery.”

Details later