The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal began hearing petitions for the 2023 presidential election in May.
Five political parties—PDP, LP, APP, APM, and AA—filed applications with the tribunal to nullify Tinubu’s win.
The five-judge panel is presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani.
If there are differences in trial matters, the five jurists will consider and vote on the ultimate conclusion.
Displeased parties may appeal to the Supreme Court.
Many attorneys think the Court of Appeal’s ruling determines the Supreme Court’s ultimate conclusion, whether in agreement or disagreement.
The tribunal judges are:
1. Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal Justice Haruna Tsammani
2. Court of Appeal Judge Stephen Adah (Asaba division)
3. Court of Appeal Judge Monsurat Bolaji-Yusuf (Asaba Division)
4. Kano division Justice Moses Ugo
5. Ibadan Court of Appeal Judge Abba Mohammed.
The Nation profiles five distinguished jurists who will give the verdict:
Judge Simon Haruna Tsammani
On November 23, 1959, Judge Haruna Tsammani was born. Bauchi State’s Tafawa Balewa LGA is his hometown. The Judge earned his LL.B from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1982.
He received his BL from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, in 1983 and became a Bauchi State High Court judge on September 17, 1998.
He was promoted to the Court of Appeal on July 16, 2010.
The longest-serving Judge of the Court of Appeal among the five panellists. In July 2010, Tsammani was promoted to the Court of Appeal bench, where he has served half his 24 years.
Tsammani was one of the Abuja Court of Appeal judges who upheld Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello’s second term.
He also delivered the Abuja Court of Appeal verdict that barred Rivers and Lagos state governments from collecting VAT (VAT).
Judge Stephen Adah
Judge Stephen Adah, presiding justice of the Asaba Division of the Court of Appeal, was born on June 13, 1957. Kogi’s Dekina LGA is his hometown.
In 1981, Adah earned his LL.B from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He earned his BL in 1982 at Lagos’ Nigerian Law School.
He was appointed a Federal High Court judge on November 12, 1998, and advanced to the Court of Appeal on November 5, 2012. The three-person panel that approved Obi and Atiku’s applications to serve Tinubu through substituted methods included him.
On November 16, 2018, Adah led a three-person tribunal that convicted former Plateau State governor Joshua Dariye. As the Supreme Court upheld their conviction and imprisonment, President Muhammadu Buhari pardoned Dariye and former Taraba governor Jolly Nyame, who were heavily criticised.
Justice Mistura Bolaji-Yusuf
Only Judge Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf is female on the five-person court bench. She was born August 7, 1959, in Oyo West LGA, Oyo State.
The Judge earned her LL.B from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, in 1983. Her BL qualification was earned at the Nigerian Law School the following year.
She became a judge of Oyo State’s High Court on January 30, 1997, and the Court of Appeal on March 24, 2014.
Judge Ugo Boloukuoromo
Judge Boloukuoromo Ugo, 57, is the youngest Presidential Election Petition Court judge. Bayelsa State’s Kolokuma/Opokua LGA is his hometown.
Judge Ugo earned his LL.B from the University of Calabar in 1989 and his BL from the Nigerian Law School in Lagos in 1990. He became a Bayelsa State High Court judge on March 21, 2006, and a Court of Appeal judge on March 24, 201.
Judge Abba Mohammed
Kano State’s Judge Abba Mohammed. He was born on February 19, 1961.
He earned his BL Certificate in 1985 from the Nigerian Law School in Lagos after earning his LL.B from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria’s College of Administration in 1984.
Judge Mohammed became an FCT High Court judge in 2010.
On June 28, 2021, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal after 10 years. He chaired the 2019 Nasarawa State Governorship Election Tribunal.
