The People’s Democratic Party, the All Progressives Congress, and the Independent National Electoral Commission will bring 290 witnesses to testify in the ongoing governorship election petition tribunal in Edo State.
The PDP candidate for the September 21 gubernatorial election, Asue Ighodalo, had petitioned the tribunal, urging the court to reject the declaration of the APC candidate,
Monday Okpebholo won the poll.
On Saturday, the tribunal’s chairman, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, announced that the parties had agreed to call 290 witnesses.
Justice Kpochi, who adjourned the case until January 13, 2025, stated that the petitioners were required to present their witnesses within 21 days or less, while respondents would have 10 days apiece to call their witnesses.
He stated that the tribunal would meet every day at 10 a.m., with the exception of Sundays and other legally designated public holidays.
The panel chairman also stated that the timeline for witness questioning and cross-examination, as well as the format of the hearing, had been finalized.
Reading from the adopted pre-hearing report, Justice Kpochi stated, “The parties have agreed to call a total of 290 witnesses.”
“The report outlines the timeframe for the examination of witnesses, with 40 minutes allocated for examination-in-chief for each star witness, 30 minutes for cross-examination by the petitioners, and 20 minutes for cross-examination by each respondent.”
According to the tribunal chairman, the parties also struck an agreement to provide 10 minutes for re-examination of each star witness and 25 minutes for examination-in-chief of other ordinary witnesses.
Justice Kpochi stated that there will be no consolidation of the petition with any other because there was no application for it, and no amendments to it will be allowed.
The tribunal chairman stated that parties had agreed to summon only witnesses whose oaths had been pre-loaded, and that subpoenaed witnesses could be called as needed.
According to him, certain witnesses would be interpreted from English to their original language, such as Benin, Esan, or Auchi dialects, and vice versa.
