Edo tribunal: PDP, APC, INEC line up 290 witnesses

The Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Congress and the Independent National Electoral Commission will call 290 witnesses to prove their cases at the ongoing governorship election petition tribunal in Edo State.

The candidate of the PDP in the September 21 governorship election, Asue Ighodalo, had approached the tribunal, praying the panel to invalidate the declaration of the APC candidate,

Monday Okpebholo, as the winner of the poll.

On Saturday, the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, disclosed that the parties had agreed to call 290 witnesses.

Justice Kpochi, who adjourned the hearing to January 13, 2025, added that the petitioners were expected to call their witnesses within 21 days or less, while respondents would have 10 days each to call their witnesses.

He said the tribunal would sit daily from 10 am, except on Sundays and other public holidays gazetted by law.

The panel chairman also disclosed that the time frame for the examination and cross-examination of witnesses and how the hearing would run had also been concluded.

Reading the adopted pre-hearing report Justice Kpochi, said, “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.”

Other agreements reached by the parties, according to the tribunal chairman, included the allocation of 10 minutes for re-examination of each star witness and 25 minutes for examination-in-chief for other ordinary witnesses.

Justice Kpochi said there shall be no consolidation of the petition with any other as there was no application in respect thereof and no amendment of such shall be entertained.

The tribunal chairman said parties agreed to call only witnesses whose statements on oath had been front-loaded and might call subpoenaed witnesses where necessary.

According to him, there shall be an interpreter for some witnesses from English to any native language like Benin, Esan, Auchi dialects and vice versa.