Presidential Tribunal: Atiku to call 100 witnesses for his petition

 

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has proposed to call 100 witnesses for his petition at the Presidential Election Petitions Court.

 

This is even as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is proposing to call 22 witnesses, Bola Tinubu, 39 and the All Progressives Congress (APC), 25 to defend their petitions.

 

This is contained in the modalities being proposed for the main hearing of the petition of Atiku on the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

 

The parties also proposed to allocate more time for the main examination of star witnesses and expert witnesses by 20 to 30 minutes, some of them to be subpoenaed, to present their testimony on oath.

 

Lead counsel to Atiku, Chris Uche (SAN), said although the law permits seven weeks to present their witnesses, they would need only about three weeks to do so.

 

“The issues are narrower and are mostly constitutional; so they won’t require much time to determine. For instance, the issue of FCT,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, the Presidential Election Petitions Court has adjourned till Monday, May 22, for report on the consolidation of modalities for the hearing of the petitions of the three remaining political parties.