The Labour Party (LP) and its Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi have concluded plans to summon 50 witnesses that would testify against the President-elect, Asiwaju Sen. Bola Tinubu.
This, they believed was mandatory in order to reclaim their alleged stolen mandate.
At the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) on Saturday, Counsel to the petitioners, Prof. Awa Kalu (SAN) pointed out that there are few hiccups at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) based on the court order of March 8, 2023.
Speaking before the five justices, Kalu said that the court had directed the INEC to allow them carry out forensic investigation of BVAs, which they have not been able to do.
He noted that his clients would require seven weeks to scrutinize the BVAs and present their petition in the court.
Kalu informed that his team suggested that a maximum of 30 minutes should be alloted to witnesses classified as 'star witnesses' to demonstrate any electronic evidence.
The legal luminary hinted that the 30 minutes excluded the time that would be used to demonstrate video evidence or any other electronic evidence.
“For this class of witnesses, they will be cross examined for 30 minutes by each respondent and re-examination will be for five minutes.
“In respect of other witnesses, we suggest 10 minutes for evidence-in-chief, 10 minutes for cross examination by each respondent and five minutes for re-examination.
“For the respondents, we suggest 20 minutes for the evidence-in-chief of their star witnesses, 30 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re-examination.
“For their other witnesses, we suggest 20 minutes for evidence-in-chief, 15 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re- examination", he added.
Kalu stated that if a respondent called a witness and other respondents wanted to cross examine such a witness, they would have to do so first before the petitioners take their turn.
Counsel to INEC, Mr Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, disclosed that his client planned to call five witnesses to defend the election of Tinubu.
Mahmoud said that his team would require seven days to argue the case of their client.
He said that the commission proposed 30 minutes for its star witness to give the evidence-in-chief, 15 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re- examination.
“For the regular witnesses, we propose 10 minutes for evidence-in-chief, 15 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re-examination", he said.
Mahmoud kicked against the suggestion by the petitioners that a separate time should be given to their expert witnesses for demonstration.
He noted that he was not conversant with hiccups between the petitioner and the commission as was alleged by counsel to the petitioner.
News Rider reports that counsel to INEC had moved an application for the court to strike out ground two of the petition which stated that the election of Tinubu is invalid by reason of corrupt practices or non compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
Counsel to the petitioners prayed the court to dismiss the application for lacking in merit.
The counsel for Tinubu and Shettima, Mr Roland Otaru, SAN, informed that he would summon 21 witnesses to defend his clients' challenged victory excluding expert witnesses.
He requested that all expert reports should be front loaded to the respondents within 48 hours.
Otaru suggested that 20 minutes should be allotted to expert witnesses for their evidence-in-chief, 30 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re-examination.
For regular witnesses, the counsel suggested 10 minutes for evidence-in-chief, 15 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re-examination.
Otaru enjoined the court to insist that the schedule of documents to be tendered should be exchanged between parties before the hearing.
But counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Mr Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, stated that his client needed only nine days to call its seven witnesses excluding subpoenaed witnesses.
He conceded to the report of Otaru on the timing for each witness, noting that the petitioners had front loaded only three witness statements.
Akintola wondered why the petitioners needed 49 days to call three witness from only three polling units.
Having listened carefully to the arguments, Chairman of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani, encouraged the counsels to meet and agree on the issue of consolidating the petition.
He adjourned the matter till May 22 for continuation of pre-hearing.
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