The Peoples Democratic Party has asked the Supreme Court for permission to file additional documents before the presidential election petition tribunal outside the allowed time.
The PDP made the request on Tuesday through its lawyer, Paul Erokoro.
Mr Erokoro noted that the application was dated Tuesday, July 30.
The PDP had closed its case in the ongoing hearing of the petition after presenting a series of documents containing result sheets and other certified true copies to support their documents within the 10 days, accrued to them by the tribunal.
After closing their case, the respondents, starting from INEC, were supposed to begin their defence at the next adjourned date, but declined to do so at the continuation of the trial on Monday.
A lead counsel for the PDP, Levy Uzuegwu, had asked the Court of Appeal, on Monday to spread the time allotted to INEC for the other parties, especially the petitioners. But that request was stood down, as the tribunal said it would decide after checking the time taken by the others in presenting their own defence.
It was not immediately clear what documents the PDP intends to bring if granted permission, but the party said it was making its request in order to bring “supplementary documents” outside its specified time.
A five-member panel of the Court led by Justice Mary Odili adjourned the matter to August 20, to allow parties reply to the application before it is decided.
The second respondent, President Muhammadu Buhari, is expected to open his defence later today.
The PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, are currently before the tribunal to contest the stated victory of Mr Buhari at the February 23 general elections.
The party accused the nation’s electoral umpire of colluding with the ruling party to rig the poll in favour of the APC.
According to Mr Abubakar, his party won the elections with over 1 million votes from details seen by the petitioners during its investigation.
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