There is tight security at the Court of Appeal Complex located in the Three Arms Zone, Shehu Shagari Way, Central Business District of Abuja, as the Presidential Election Petition Court gets set to deliver judgement on the February 25 election.
It is coming about a month after the court heard the closing arguments of parties to the petitions and about two weeks to the expiration of the statutory 180-day lifespans 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 judgements on the petitions after hearing the closing arguments of the parties to the cases in early August.
All roads leading to the Court of 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.
The same formation has been placed within in 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 judgement 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 judgement 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 access into the Presidential Villa were being manned by heavy security personnel.
Petitions were filed separately by Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of the
Labour Party and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), to challenging President Bola Tinubu’s victory.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 8.8 million votes to defeat 17 other candidates in what was largely a three-horse race.
Atiku polled a total of 6,984,520 votes in the election to come second, while Obi came behind Atiku with a total of 6,101,533 votes, according to INEC.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kashim Shettima, the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabimila, and some APC Governors were present in the Court of Appeal Complex, venue of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) for the judgement.
Also present in court are Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, APC National chairman, governors of Bauchi, Yobe, Kogi, Ekiti, Imo, Nassarawa, Festus Keyamo and Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser (NSA) to the president.
