…as hearing begins May 30
The Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja has merged all three matters filed respectively by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM), side by side their presidential candidates.
Justice Haruna Tsamani ,the tribunal chairman, disclosed this Tuesday at the pre-hearing report.
The said three political parties are disputing the outcome of the February 25 presidential election, as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in which the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate,Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was declared winner.
INEC declared that Tinubu notched 8,794,726 votes, PDP’s Atiku Abubakar – 6,984,520 votes and Peter Obi of the Labour Party – 6,101,533 respectively.
Sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, the Tribunal declared that the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, had three weeks to prove their case.
It was further declared that in the interest of a speedy hearing, there would be no oral examination of witnesses in the Labour Party’s petition. There would rather be adoption of witness statements.
For a star (or expert) witness, 30 minutes shall be used for evidence in chief while 20 minutes will be for cross-examination and five minutes for re-examination.
Obi’s petition will be heard between May 30 and June 23.
Presenting the hearing report, Justice Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf said the APM is being given one day to prove its case as it would call only one witness.
In line with Section 41(3) of the 1st Schedule of the Electoral Act, the court added that there shall be no oral examination of witnesses as witnesses will only be allowed to adopt their written statements.
The APM’s hearing will carry from May 30 to July 3, with evidence closing on June 6.
Abubakar Atiku of the PDP will have three weeks to prove his case. Hearing in that matter will run between May 30 and June 20.
INEC is allocated two days to present while Tinubu and the APC have five days.
While hearing for the consolidated suit is to begin on May 30 across the board, the Labour Party and the PDP would close theirs on June 23.
