What is the Length of Court Proceedings?
At the Appeal Court level, five Justices will determine the petition, while seven Justices will sit to decide the appeal if Peter Obi and/or Atiku are not pleased with the decision of the Appeal Court.

The five Justices have 180 days to deliver judgment on the petition before them from the day Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar submitted their election petitions.

Section 132(8) of the Electoral Act 2022 states that “the Tribunal shall deliver a judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of the filing of the petition.”

While the Tribunal has given Peter Obi a 21-day response period, after which a date for the hearing can be fixed, the Tribunal is expected to deliver their judgment on or before September 16, 2023, if national holidays and weekends are not accounted for.

In a situation where the decision of the Tribunal is not favorable to the petitioners, the law states that an appeal from a decision of an Area Council Election Tribunal shall be heard and disposed of within 60 days from the date of the delivery of the judgment of the Tribunal.

While the Presidency of Tinubu would be six months old, it is expected that the Supreme Court should rule on all the presidential petitions around November 15, 2023.