Peter Obi’s Labour Party is presenting 50 witnesses to against Bola Tinubu the President Elect. and will need seven weeks to get this done.
According to the party’s counsel, Awa Kalu, who addressed the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja on Saturday, the duration is because the forensic investigation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has yet to be carried out as directed by the court.
BVAS has been largely blamed for incoherent public discourse on its application and transmission of results during the presidential elections.
The electronic device was designed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to as well read permanent voter cards (PVCs) during elections for the verification of voters.
Secondly, Kalu said the petitioner is awaiting some documents requested for.
It was also agreed the star witnesses would need 30 minutes to demonstrate any electronic evidence.
Class of witnesses will be cross-examined for 20 minutes and five minutes will be for re-examination, while 10 minutes is allowed for other witnesses.
For the respondents, 20 minutes was allotted for the star witnesses and 30 minutes for cross-examination.
INEC said it had five witnesses set to testify in the Labour Party’s petition and proposed seven days for it.
The lead counsel of the commission, Abubakar Mahmoud, however, disagreed that there should be a separate time for demonstration of electronic evidence.
Roland Otaru, counsel to the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, proposed nine days to call their witnesses, excluding expert witnesses.
The APC aligned with the submission of Tinubu and Shettima’s counsel, adding that it would be presenting seven witnesses for nine days.
(C) ControlTV 2023.
