Judgment Day: Security operatives take over PEPC, environs

By Wandoo Sombo and Edith Nwapi

As expected security has been beefed up at the Court of Appeal Complex, Abuja where the Presidential Election Petition Court will in a few hours deliver judgement in the petitions filed against the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election.

Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) had filed the petitions challenging President Tinubu’s victory.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on 1 March, declared Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the presidential election with 8.8 million votes.

He defeated 17 other candidates in what was largely a three horse race.

But Atiku who polled 6,984,520 votes in the election to come second,and Obi who came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes had filed petitions challenging the declaration by INEC.

The judgment in the three petitions is coming about a month after the court heard the closing arguments of parties.

It is also about two weeks to the expiration of the statutory 180-day lifespan within which the cases filed in March must be heard and determined.

The five-member panel of the court, headed by Haruna Tsammani had reserved judgement on the petitions after hearing the closing arguments of the parties to the cases on 1 August.

The Police on Tuesday warned that their operatives will be deployed to ensure that the peace of the country is not disrupted over the verdict of the PEPC. 

Spokesperson for Nigeria Police Muyiwa Adejobi warned mischief makers against misinformation and unguided utterances capable of inciting violence over the judgment.

Adejobi said the police will forestall breakdown of law and order over the judgment.

“The Police wish to reiterate the commitment to ensuring the safety of lives and property before, during, and after the judgment. The NPF has diligently emplaced all necessary deployments and security measures during this critical period as officers and men are fully prepared to maintain order and enforce laws while respecting the rights and freedoms of all citizens,” Adejobi said. 

True to that promise, all roads leading to the Court of the Appeal complex is being manned by multiple security operatives, drawn from various arms, including the armed forces, police, men of the Department of State Service (DSS) and the Civil Defence early Wednesday morning.

The same formation was observed within the court complex.

The Chief Registrar of the Court, Mr Umar Bangari in a statement on Monday said that everything had been put in place to ensure that the judgment in the three petitions pending before the court were delivered hitch free.

Bangari said adequate security had been put in place and that only the invited members of political parties and the general public would be allowed into the court room.

This he said was to avoid congestion and security breaches.

He also said that media houses that wish to televise the judgment live would be allowed to do so but at no cost to the court.

As at 7.30 a.m., lawyers and journalists were being checked by security operatives.

Major government buildings, including the Federal Secretariat, the National Assembly Complex and the access into the Presidential Villa were being manned by heavy security personnel.