Starnews Nigeria has reliably gathered that the Supreme Court of Nigeria may deliver an abridge judgement tomorrow and give its reason later as the court is set to hear an appeal filed to challenge the victory of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the October 10, 2020 governorship election by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Eyitayo Jegede.
Recall that the commencement of hearing in the petition was fixed for tomorrow, July 28, 2021.
Starnews Nigeria reports that Mr Eyitayo Jegede had appealed the decision of the Court of Appeal that validated the election of Akeredolu in the poll.
It was reported on July 16, 2021, that the Court of Appeal led by Justice Theresa Orji-Abadua dismissed the petition filed by Jegede while affirming Akeredolu as the winner of the poll.
In its verdict, the Appeal Court had out of 7 issues raised for determination resolved four and half in favour of Jegede and the rest two and a half in favour of Akeredolu.
Not satisfied with the decision of the Appellate Court, both Akeredolu, Jegede, and INEC approached the Supreme Court for the invalidation of both the Election Petition Tribunal and Appeal Court judgements.
As the case is coming up tomorrow for hearing, a dependable source close to the Supreme Court told Starnews Nigeria that the court may go on break and deliver an abridged judgement tomorrow after hearing all the parties in the case to douse tension and disappoint politicians who are allegedly patronising the corridors of powers to influence the outcome of the case.
Starnews Nigeria furthered confirmed that the possibility of the Supreme court delivering its judgement tomorrow is very high as all the parties involved in the case have already filed their written addresses.
Some Lawyers from both the opposition PDP and the ruling APC who spoke to Starnews Nigeria under the condition of anonymity were also of the opinion that the supreme may give an abridged judgement tomorrow and give its reason later.
One of them said: “my brother, that is not new to us. The supreme court can hear us tomorrow and adjourn for a break to give its judgement. Anything can happen tomorrow. The Supreme Court is not predictable and as a matter of fact, they operate like that so that nobody would be able to predict them.”
Another Lawyer said: “it has happened before in several cases similar to this where the court will give an abridged judgement after hearing the parties and fix another date to give its reason later”.
“Even as it is, the court is planning to go on their annual vacation which is in August. So anything can happen tomorrow. Lawyers are in the know that the Supreme court can hear the case tomorrow and give judgement. It is not a strange thing to us. Just that nobody can predict the Supreme Court,” he added.
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