According to Punchng. Presidential Tribunal: Obi, Atiku, Tinubu, Shettima, INEC to Present 237 Witnesses
The number of witnesses to be called in the ongoing presidential tribunal has been revealed.
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), plan to call approximately 150 witnesses collectively.
On the other hand, Bola Tinubu, the President-elect and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), along with his deputy Kashim Shettima, the APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), have proposed a total of 87 witnesses.
These figures were disclosed during the recent pre-hearing of the petition at the Presidential Election Petition Court. Atiku and Obi are disputing the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election by INEC.
Atiku’s lead counsel stated that they intended to call around 100 witnesses to support their case against the respondents.
Due to the narrowing of issues, they aimed to conclude their presentation within three weeks instead of the statutory seven weeks.
Obi and the LP’s counsel, Prof Awa Kalu, announced that they would present 50 witnesses.
However, they faced difficulties in conducting a forensic investigation of the Biometric Voter Authentication devices due to an order from the court, and thus required seven weeks to present their case.
The parties also discussed the allocated time for each witness.
The “star witnesses” were proposed to have 30 minutes for their evidence-in-chief, followed by cross-examination for 30 minutes and re-examination for five minutes.
Other witnesses were suggested to have 10 minutes for evidence-in-chief, 10 minutes for cross-examination, and five minutes for re-examination.
INEC’s counsel stated that they planned to call five witnesses to defend the election.
They proposed similar time allotments for their witnesses as the respondents.
Tinubu and Shettima’s counsel mentioned they would call 21 witnesses, excluding expert witnesses.
They requested that all expert reports be provided to the respondents within 48 hours.
The APC’s counsel stated that their client would need only nine days to call their seven witnesses, excluding subpoenaed witnesses.
The tribunal urged the lawyers to reach an agreement on the issue of consolidating the petitions and adjourned the proceedings to the following Monday.
Additionally, the court received an application from INEC’s counsel to strike out ground two of the petition, which alleges the election of Tinubu as invalid due to corrupt practices and non-compliance with electoral provisions.
The tribunal directed the parties involved to consult on the possible consolidation of the three surviving petitions, which were filed by the PDP and Atiku, the LP and Obi, and the Allied Peoples Movement.
The parties were instructed to assess if consolidation was appropriate under Paragraph 50 of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act, which allows for multiple petitions relating to the same election to be considered as one unless otherwise directed by the Tribunal or Court.
The proceedings were adjourned to allow the parties to report back on the consolidation of the petitions.
