Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and PDP candidate, is contesting the results of the presidential election that was held on February 25. He has asked for three weeks to call 100 witnesses to support his case against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the president-elect.
Atiku and his party revealed on Saturday that among the witnesses he has lined up to testify in the case are experts and people he will ask the court to compel to mount the witness stand during the resumed proceedings before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja.
“We may not even exhaust the three weeks because the issues are getting narrower, “Atiku’s lawyer, Uche SAN, added.
We Won’t Help Atiku With Witnesses, Says INEC As It Closes Defence At Tribunal
The Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, announced to the court through its attorney, Abubakar Mahmood, SAN, that it would only bring two witnesses, but the President-elect, Tinubu, claimed he would only need two days to discredit Atiku’s case.
Mr. Roland Otaro, SAN, Tinubu’s principal attorney at the proceedings, further said that his client would invite 39 witnesses to testify before the court, in addition to any further people he might seek to have subpoenaed to appear.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, represented by Mr. Solomon Umoh, SAN, said that in order to call 39 witnesses before the court, it would also require two days.
In their combined appeal, titled CA/PEPC/05/2023, Atiku and the PDP ask the court, among other things, to revoke the Certificate of Return that was issued to the President-elect by INEC..
According to the petitioners, Tinubu was declared the winner of the presidential election even though “the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 were not complied with.”
We’ve 400 Witnesses Willing To Testify Against President – PDP Tells Tribunal
They further asserted that Tinubu was not legitimately elected by a majority of valid votes cast in the election, claiming that his election was illegal due to fraudulent activities.
Having received the second-highest number of valid votes cast in the election, Atiku further asked the court to proclaim him the victor of the presidential race.
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