The Labour Party has announced its intention to summon 50 witnesses to provide testimony challenging the electoral triumph of President-elect Bola Tinubu, estimating that a timeframe of seven weeks will be necessary to complete this process.
According to the party’s counsel, Awa Kalu, who addressed the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja on Saturday, the duration is because the forensic investigation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has yet to be carried out as directed by the court.
BVAS is an electronic device designed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to read permanent voter cards (PVCs) during elections for the verification of voters.
Secondly, Kalu said the petitioner is awaiting some documents requested for.
It was also agreed the star witnesses would need 30 minutes to demonstrate any electronic evidence.
That class of witnesses will be cross-examined for 20 minutes and five minutes will be for re-examination, while 10 minutes was allotted for other witnesses.
For the respondents, 20 minutes was allotted for the star witnesses and 30 minutes for cross-examination.
INEC said it had five witnesses set to testify in the Labour Party’s petition and proposed seven days to get it done.
The lead counsel of the commission, Abubakar Mahmoud, however, disagreed that there should be a separate time for demonstration of electronic evidence.
Roland Otaru, counsel to the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, proposed nine days to call their witnesses, excluding expert witnesses.
The APC aligned with the submission of Tinubu and Shettima’s counsel, adding that it would be presenting seven witnesses for nine days.
