CJN Absent As Justice Okoro Chairs Supreme Court Panel Hearing Obi, Atiku’s Petitions Against Tinubu’s Election

Justice Inyang Okoro is presiding over the Supreme Court’s seven-man panel currently hearing applications filed against the election of President Bola Tinubu.

With Okoro as the presiding justice, the remaining brother justices will either be his colleagues or junior in ranking at the Supreme Court bench.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, who swore in Tinubu as president of Nigeria, is not part of the panel.

The reason for Ariwoola’s absence not immediately clear to THE WHISTLER.

His predecessor, former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad, led the seven-member panel of the Supreme Court that determined the main appeals challenging the February 23, 2019 presidential election won by former president Muhammadu Buhari.

The appeals to be determined by this panel were filed by Peter Obi of the Labour party, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic party and the Allied Peoples Movement, APM.

They are asking the court to nullify the election of Bola Tinubu on the grounds of non-compliance to the Electoral Act and corrupt practices.

But the Presidential Election Petitions Court sitting in Abuja had dismissed all petitions challenging Tinubu’s election for lacking in merit and not having substantial proofs of electoral malpractice.

Justice Okoro, the presiding justice, has served in different capacities and bodies in the judiciary, including being a Member, Election Petition Tribunal, Kano, 1998, Member, Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Petition Tribunal, Ondo State, 2003, Member, Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Petition Tribunal No.2 Delta State, 2003.