Political News in Nigeria Today
Tribunal to reconvene May 30 as opposition petitions merged
All of the petitions submitted by the three petitioners, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM), as well as their presidential candidates, have been combined by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
On Tuesday, Justice Haruna Tsamani, the Tribunal’s chairman, stated this when delivering the court’s pre-hearing report.
The results of the presidential election held on February 25 are being contested by all three parties. Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was proclaimed the victor by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
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Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes, while PDP’s Atiku Abubakar scored Abubakar 6,984,520 votes and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, finished with a tally of 6,101,533.
The Tribunal, in Tuesday’s proceeding at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, said the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, had three weeks to prove their case.
There won’t be an oral cross-examination of witnesses since adopting witness statements will be necessary instead to facilitate a quick hearing of the Labour Party’s appeal.
The time allotted for a star (or expert) witness will be divided as follows: 30 minutes for the evidence in chief, 20 minutes for the cross-examination, and 5 minutes for the re-examination.
The hearing for Peter Obi will start on May 30 and end on June 23.
Justice Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf presented the hearing report and stated that the APM was given one day to present its case because it only had one witness to call.
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.
APM’s hearing will begin on May 30 to end July 3 and is expected to close its evidence on June 6.
For the PDP, Atiku has three weeks to prove his case,with hearing commencing on May 30 and ending on June 20.
The First Respondent (INEC) was given two days, while the 2nd and 3rd respondents (Tinubu and APC) have five days.
Hearing for the consolidated suit is to commence on May 30 across the board while Labour Party and the PDP would close theirs on June 23.
The Tribunal is also expected to sit all week, including Saturdays.
