Supreme Court to explain dismissal of Atiku’s appeal tomorrow

The Supreme Court has fixed November 15 to give reasons behind the dismissal of the appeal filed by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, which challenged the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari, as winner of the February 23 presidential election.
The apex court had in a unanimous summary judgment delivered on October 30, dismissed the appeal filed by Atiku and his party.
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, while delivering the summary judgment, announced that the court would later offer its reasons to the general public on why it dismissed the appeal the way it did.
Atiku and PDP had in their joint appeal filed in September, challenged the entire judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal which had affirmed the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Having gone through the briefs for over two weeks we have come to the conclusion that this appeal lacks merit. This appeal is hereby dismissed. Reason will be given at a date to be communicated to parties,” the CJN who presided over the appeal had held.
However, nearly two weeks after the judgment, the apex court on Wednesday notified lawyers to parties in the appeal that it has fixed Friday November 15, 2019, to make its reasons for dismissing the appeal known.
The notice to lawyers in the matter, a soft copy sighted by our correspondent, dated November 13, 2019, was signed by one Ibrahim Gold, a Registrar at the Supreme Court.