Hundreds of protesters on Saturday stormed the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja where Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president-elect, his election victory is being challenged.
Premium Times report that, A barricade mounted by the police to divert traffic away prevented the demonstrators from gaining entry to the court premises where the court’s five-member panel was holding hearing sessions on Saturday.
The protesters, including many women in black and red attires, carried placards with inscriptions urging President Muhammadu Buhari, whose administration is in its dying days, to live up to his promise of bequeathing a transparent electoral process.
Other signs criticised Mahmood Yakubu, the head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for overseeing a "shambolic election".
According to Premium times, The demonstrators marched across Eagle Square to the Court of Appeal's main office, which houses the Presidential Election Petition Court.
They gathered close to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in Abuja, which is about 200 metres from the courthouse where petitions filed against Mr. Tinubu's election by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party, and the Allied Peoples' Movement (APM) are being heard.
The "Free Nigeria Movement" demonstrators were loitering around a barricade set up by police officers to restrict traffic away from the court while screaming anti-electoral fraud songs.
While calling for an end to electoral fraud and corruption in Nigeria, some of the demonstrators' female members were writhing on the ground.
Police personnel with guns were ready to intervene if the law were to break down.
There have been a few demonstrations since the court's first sitting on March 8th.
Premium times report that, The demonstrators have repeatedly demanded justice in the resolution of the claims brought before them.
The applications are being heard by a five-member court panel, presided over by Haruna Tsammani.
The demonstration mimics the unrest that preceded the declaration of Mr. Tinubu as the victor of the hotly contested presidential election on February 25 on March 1.
Following the publication of the results, the two top opposition candidates, Atiku and Mr. Obi, had separate press conferences where they alleged widespread results tampering and vowed to dispute the election's conclusion in court.
The two candidates filed their petitions to contest the election's outcome before the deadline of 21 days after the results were announced in March.
Three additional political parties also submitted separate petitions to contest the results, but two of them withdrew their cases during the first week of the court's session this month.
There are currently three petitions pending before the court, including those brought out by Atiku, Mr. Obi, and the Allied Progressives' Movement (APM).
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