TRIBUNAL : Atikus Witnesses Rattles Inec and Tinubu lawyers

68

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) were unsettled by the decision of the former Vice President of Nigeria, Abubakar Atiku, to bring subpoenaed witnesses into the hearing of his petition today. They jointly stood their grounds that the witnesses must not be allowed to testify until tomorrow, June 8.

After the PEPC expressed concern yesterday that Atiku and the PDP were turning out their exhibits in piecemeal fashion, their lawyer, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, complained that INEC was frustrating their litigation against Tinubu and the APC, despite the fact that they had paid Six Million Naira (N6,000,000) in fees to the electoral body. This was despite the fact that INEC was frustrating their litigation against Tinubu and the APC.

According to Nigerian Tribune, as a result, they made a request for an order that would allow them to subpoena witnesses during the court’s resumed hearing, and they received approval for the request.

Atiku, who was the candidate for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the disputed presidential election that took place on February 25, called his first subpoenaed witness at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPEC) today to tender some sensitive documents; however, the move was met with vehement opposition from both INEC and Tinubu.

INEC, Tinubu, and the APC all objected through their respective lawyers to the taking of the witness’s testimony, who was said to be an ad hoc staff member of INEC.

After the admission of exhibits from ten local government areas in Kogi State, the lead counsel for the PDP, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, called in one of his listed witnesses who testified about how INEC failed to transmit results in real time “as promised.” This occurred after the exhibits were allowed into the courtroom.

Uche informed the court that the petitioners have three witnesses that have been subpoenaed shortly after the conclusion of the cross examination of the witness, Hon. Ndubuisi Nwobu from the state of Anambra. He then went to call the first witness, which was an Adhoc staff member of INEC.

However, as soon as the witness entered the witness box and almost as soon as he could take his oath, the counsel for INEC, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, raised an objection to the hearing of the witness’s evidence.

He informed the judge that he had just been served with the witness’ statement this morning and that, as a result, he would need to study the statement in order to conduct an exhaustive cross examination of the witness.

His position was shared by Tinubu’s lawyer, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, and the lawyer for the APC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, who added that he had just been served with the statement barely 20 minutes ago and has not seen what it contains yet. His position was shared by Tinubu’s lawyer, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN.

Uche, in his response, argued that with a subpoenaed witness, they were not supposed to front-load his statement to the respondents. He added that there was nothing strange in the statement of the witness that would warrant an adjournment of the proceeding.

Uche pleaded with the judge to allow them to question at least one of the witnesses who had been subpoenaed so that they could make effective use of the time that was allotted to them. This was because the adjournment would eat into the time that was allotted to them.

While attempting to show consideration, the Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, proposed pausing the trial for thirty minutes to give respondents the opportunity to review the documents and, as a result, conduct a cross-examination of the first witness who had been subpoenaed.

INEC, on the other hand, insisted that the witness cannot talk and should not be taken because the witness “is said to be an Adhoc staff of the Commission,” and as a result, he would need to go and look at INEC’s records in order to confirm the witness’s status and adequately prepare for the hearing.

As a result of the respondents’ insistence, Uche pleaded with the court to postpone the process of calling the three witnesses who were subpoenaed until the following day.

Nwobu testified earlier in his case that the election ran smoothly in the majority of polling units he visited, including the one in which he cast his vote, but that “magic started happening” at the Ward Collation Centres. He said this while referring to the election results.

According to him, the results of the election were entered into the forms EC8A at the polling units; however, they were not transmitted real time into the IReV as a result of the malfunction of the BVAS machines.

He reported to the panel that, had it not been for his intervention, members of the INEC staff who were unable to upload results in real time would have been subjected to physical violence.

“There was not a real-time transmission of results as we were promised by INEC,” he stated.

In the meantime, the next hearing regarding the petition will take place on June 8 rather than earlier this week.

68 thoughts on “TRIBUNAL : Atikus Witnesses Rattles Inec and Tinubu lawyers

  1. Today, I went to the beach with my kids. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is entirely off topic but I had to tell someone!

  2. I truly love your site.. Pleasant colors & theme. Did you develop this site yourself? Please reply back as I’m hoping to create my very own website and would like to know where you got this from or exactly what the theme is called. Cheers!

  3. It’s really a cool and helpful piece of information. I’m glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.

  4. Hey there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this post to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!

  5. I truly love your blog.. Very nice colors & theme. Did you make this website yourself? Please reply back as I’m trying to create my very own website and would like to know where you got this from or what the theme is called. Appreciate it!

  6. Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is an extremely smartly written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thank you for the post. I will definitely comeback.

  7. of course like your web-site however you need to test the spelling on quite a few of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very bothersome to tell the truth on the other hand I will certainly come back again.

  8. Greetings I am so grateful I found your website, I really found you by error, while I was researching on Aol for something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a marvelous post and a all round enjoyable blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the excellent job.

  9. Hey there! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site? I’m getting fed up of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be great if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

  10. My brother suggested I might like this website. He used to be totally right. This post actually made my day. You cann’t consider just how much time I had spent for this information! Thank you!

  11. I’m not sure where you are getting your info, however good topic. I needs to spend a while studying more or understanding more. Thank you for fantastic information I used to be in search of this information for my mission.

  12. I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Great work!

  13. all the time i used to read smaller posts which also clear their motive, and that is also happening with this post which I am reading at this time.

  14. Hi! I’ve been following your website for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Dallas Tx! Just wanted to mention keep up the fantastic job!

  15. Fantastic beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your web site, how can i subscribe for a blog web site? The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear concept

  16. I’d like to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this website. I’m hoping to see the same high-grade blog posts from you in the future as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my very own website now 😉

  17. I do believe all the ideas you have presented for your post. They are very convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are too quick for novices. May you please prolong them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.

  18. I’m not sure where you are getting your info, but good topic. I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more. Thanks for fantastic information I was looking for this information for my mission.

  19. Its like you read my mind! You seem to understand so much approximately this, like you wrote the ebook in it or something. I feel that you could do with some p.c. to drive the message house a bit, however other than that, this is wonderful blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.

  20. Great article! This is the type of information that are supposed to be shared around the internet. Disgrace on the seek engines for not positioning this submit upper! Come on over and talk over with my site . Thank you =)

  21. I blog frequently and I truly appreciate your content. This great article has really peaked my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new information about once a week. I subscribed to your RSS feed as well.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *