The All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola
Tinubu will next week open their defence in the petition challenging the
outcome of the presidential election.

Tinubu secured 8,794,726 votes in the election to defeat
Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who had 6,984,520, and
Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) who polled 6,101,533.

Subsequently, Obi, Atiku and their respective political
parties lodged petitions before the tribunal.

The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) also filed a petition and
closed its case after calling one witness on Wednesday.

At the last tribunal session, counsel to all the parties
told the court that instead of opening defence on June 31 as stated in the
pre-hearing schedule, they had agreed that it was better to adjourn further
hearing until after the Muslim holiday.

“My lords, all of us took into consideration some salient
factors, especially the fact that some of us will love to travel to celebrate
with our families and loved ones,” Wole Olanipekun, counsel to Tinubu, said.

 “Moreover, there is
likely to be a two day public holiday next week. We will therefore plead your
lordships to adjourn the case till after the Sallah celebration.

“We also want to assure your lordships that on our part, we
will not exceed the days allotted to us.

“We will start and close out case the same week.”

The five-member panel of justices led by Harunna Tsammani
granted the request and adjourned to July 3 for continuation.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is expected
to open its defence first.