Counsel to INEC at the Presidential Election Petitions Court, Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, said his client who conducted the disputed election plans to call five witnesses to defend the declaration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 election.
Mr Mahmoud told the court at its resumed pre-hearing proceedings, last Saturday, in Abuja that his team would require seven days to argue their client’s case.
He said the commission was proposing 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.
He opposed the suggestion by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, that a separate time be given to their expert witnesses for demonstration.
He also said he was not aware of any hiccups between the petitioners and the commission, as was alleged by the counsel to the petitioners.
Earlier, the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that they will call no fewer than 50 witnesses to testify in their petition.
LP and Mr Obi are challenging the election of President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
Counsel to the petitioners, Awa Kalu (SAN), told the court: “We still have a few hiccups at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) because of the order of this court made on March 8, directing the commission to allow us to carry out forensic investigation of BVAs, which we have not been able to do”.
Mr Kalu said his clients would require seven weeks within which to present their petition in court.
The senior lawyer told the court that with regard to timing, his team was suggesting that 30 minutes be allotted to the witnesses classified as “star witnesses” to demonstrate any electronic evidence.
He, however, said 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.”
Roland Otaru, SAN, arguing for President-elect Bola Tinubu and his Vice, Kashim Shettima, said he would call 21 witnesses to defend his clients’ challenged victory, excluding expert witnesses.
He requested that all expert reports be front-loaded to the respondents within 48 hours.
On timing, he suggested that 20 minutes be allotted to expert witnesses for their evidence-in-chief, 30 minutes for cross-examination and five minutes for re-examination.
“For regular witnesses, we suggest 10 minutes for evidence-in-chief, 15 minutes for cross-examination and five minutes for re-examination.”
Mr Otaru prayed the court to make an order that the schedule of documents to be tendered should be exchanged between parties before the hearing.
For his part, Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC), said his client needed only nine days to call its seven witnesses, excluding subpoenaed witnesses.
He agreed with the report of Mr Otaru with regard to the timing for each witness.
He, however, said the petitioners had front-loaded only three witness statements and wondered why they would need 49 days to call three witnesses from only three polling units.
The court’s chairman, Justice Haruna Tsammani, having heard all arguments, urged counsels to meet and reach an agreement on the issue of consolidating the petition.
He adjourned the matter until May 22 for the continuation of pre-hearing.
The counsel to INEC, amongst others, moved an application for the court to strike out ground two of the petition.