May 22, (THEWILL) – The Allied Peoples Movement (APM), has requested three days to call just one witness to prove its case against the election of President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
APM made the request on Monday, at the resumption of pre-hearing session of its petition before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), sitting at the Appeal Court, Abuja.
The APM is challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu as winner of the February 25 presidential election.
In its petition marked CA/ABJ/PEPC/04/2022, the party is challenging the results of the presidential election on the grounds of alleged irregularities including the mutilation of election results.
The party argued that Tinubu did not have a validly nominated vice presidential candidate, adding that Kashim Shettima,” the Vice-President elect, was not validly sponsored by the APC.
Listed as 1st to 5th Respondents in the petition were INEC, APC, Bola Tinubu, Kashim Shettima and Kabir Masari.
Adressing the court on Monday, APM said its star witness will take 20 minutes for examination, 25 minutes for cross-examination, and five minutes for re-examination.
Other witnesses will get 10 minutes each, while 15 minutes is slated for cross-examination and five minutes for re-examination.
The party also said documents that would be relied on by each party has been exchanged between parties.
For his part, counsel for INEC, said the electoral body was not invited for the meeting between petitioner and the respondents.
He added that INEC has only one witness and would need just a day to prove its case.
APC agreed substantially with the report of the petitioner and said it would need five days to call one witness.
Akin Olujimi, counsel for Tinubu and Vice-President-elect Kashim Shettima, said he would be calling three witnesses with two to be subpoenaed, but added that he would need four days to put in his defence.
On the terms of cross-examination of the star witness, Olujimi said he would need 25 minutes.
APM also informed the court that it is not opposing the proposed consolidation of the three surviving petitions.
On their part, Counsel for INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), said it was at the discretion of the court to decide how it went.
The electoral body insisted it was taking a neutral stance on the subject of consolidation of the three petitions.
