The Supreme Court on Thursday fixed Oct. 31 for ruling in President Goodluck Jonathan’s appeal against the decision of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to hear the CPC’s petition against his victory.
The other applicants are the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
At the resumed hearing, Justice Walter Onnonghen, who led four other justices, had sought to know from the applicants if the appeal was still relevant.
Onnonghen explained that the parties must take judicial notice of the fact that the 60 days set aside by law within which the appeal must be heard after the decision of the Tribunal, had lapsed.
“The applicants, however, should prove to the court that the appeal is still alive; we also thought that the appeal was dead in view of the fact that the petition has been heard and judgment reserved,'' Onnonghen said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Jonathan is challenging the July 6 decision of the tribunal which upheld the filing of the petition on a Sunday.
Chief Joe Gadzama (SAN) counsel to the PDP, argued that the appeal was still alive as according to him, the 60 days stipulated by law for the appeal to be heard after the ruling has not lapsed.
“The Court should also take judicial notice of the fact that all weekends and public holidays within the period are not inclusive,'' he said.
Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), counsel to Jonathan, who concurred with the submission of Gadzama, added that the apex court had a rare opportunity to reposition the law to the right path.
The applicants had argued that the filing of the petition on a Sunday violated all the provisions contained in the country’s legal statutes.
They further argued that the action was frivolous as it compromised the provisions of the Electoral Act and the rules on the Sunday of Servant Act of 1677.
NAN reports that the Sunday of Servant Act is a statute of general interpretation which mandates members of the United Nations not to carry out businesses on a Sunday.
Justice Ayo Salami who presided over the case then, had dismissed that objection in his ruling, describing it as a baseless and frivolous technicality.
Chief Oladipo Opeseyi (SAN), counsel to CPC, however, prayed the apex court to dismiss the appeal because it had been overtaken by other related events in the matter