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 judgment.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the judgment is in three cases challenging the outcome of the presidential election.
This 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 lifespan within which the cases filed in March must be heard and determined.
The five-member panel of the court, headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani, had reserved judgements in the petitions after hearing the closing arguments of the parties to the cases in early August.
NAN reports that all roads leading to the Court of the Appeal complex are being manned by multiple security operatives drawn from various arms, including the Nigerian Armed Forces, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
The Chief Registrar of the Court, Umar Bangari, in a statement on Monday said everything had been put in place to ensure that the judgment in the three petitions pending before the court was 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 courtroom.
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.
NAN reports that as of 7:30 a.m., lawyers and journalists wanting to witness the proceeding were being checked by security operatives.
NAN reports that major government buildings, including the Federal Secretariat, National Assembly Complex, and Presidential Villa, were being manned by heavy security personnel.
NAN reports that petitions were filed separately by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate for the February 25, 2023 polls, Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi; and Allied Peoples Movement challenging the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The electoral body declared that Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress polled 8.8 million votes to defeat 17 other candidates in what was largely a three-horse race.
Abubakar polled a total of 6,984,520 votes in the election to come second, while Obi came behind him with a total of 6,101,533 votes.
