These 5 tribunal judges will decide petitions against Tinubu

The presidential candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, are challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). 

While Tinubu is preparing to be sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th president on May 29, 2023, Atiku and Obi’s hopes are dependent on the decision and pronouncement of judges of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT). 

Here are the profiles of the five judges who will determine the fate of Tinubu, Atiku and Obi in the coming days. 

Justice Haruna Tsammani

Justice Haruna Tsamani is the presiding justice of the five-member panel of the tribunal and was born in Gombe State in 1959. He obtained his LL.B degree from Bayero University in Kano in 1982, and a Master of Law degree from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.

The 63-year-old was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Gombe State in 1999 after serving in the state’s Ministry of Justice. 

He has presided over various election and financial matters. In 2021, when the Lagos and Rivers State governments moved to start collecting Value Added Tax (VAT) from their states, the jurist chaired a three-man panel that ordered the state government to stop the collection. 

Justice Stephen Adah

Born on June 13, 1957, Justice Adah is the presiding justice of the Asaba Division of the Court of Appeal. 

Before becoming an Appeal Court judge in 2012, Adah who hails from the Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State was a Federal High Court judge for 14 years.

In December 2020, he led a three-man appeal court panel that set aside the indictments delivered against Sambo Dasuki, a former National Security Adviser, by Federal High Court in Abuja.

Justice Misturat Bolaji-Yusuf

Justice Mistura Bolaji-Yusuf from Oyo West Local Government Area of Oyo State was born on August 7, 1959. She obtained her LL.B degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 1983, and attended the Nigerian Law School for her BL Certificate the following year.

Bolaji-Yusuf served as a judge of the High Court of Oyo State for 17 years before becoming a Court of Appeal judge on March 24, 2014.

She was on the panel of Appeal Court judges that ruled in favour of candidates of the Obaseki-faction of the Edo State PDP that participated in the just concluded 2023 elections.

She was also on the panel that set the judicial precedent that an unsigned document is worthless in the face of the law in 2016.

Justice Boloukuoromo Moses Ugo

Born on June 7, 1965, Justice Boloukuoromo Moses Ugo hails from the Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. He is the youngest judge on the panel of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. 

Justice Ugo attended the University of Calabar, where he obtained his LL.B degree in 1989. In 2006, he was appointed a judge of the High Court of Bayelsa State. Eight years later, he became a Court of Appeal judge on March 24, 2014. 

Justice Abba-Bello Mohammed

Justice Mohammed was born on February 19, 1961, in Kano. He attended the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State and obtained his LL.B degree in 1984.

He received his BL certificate at the Nigerian Law School in Lagos in 1985 and became a Court of Appeal judge on June 28, 2021.

Justice Mohammed has presided over several cases. One of them was the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Tribunal in 2019. 

Following the 2019 general elections, David Ombugadu, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Nasarawa sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Governor Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC). But Justice Mohammed dismissed the petition for lacking merit.