Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council spokesperson and witness, Dr. Tanko Yunusa, has clarified the party’s limited number of witnesses at the ongoing presidential election petition tribunal.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Dr. Yunusa explained that the court granted them a restricted timeframe, resulting in the party featuring about 10 witnesses.
Recall that Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, had initially announced his intention to present 50 witnesses who would provide testimony and evidence to support claims of election rigging against President Tinubu’s victory.
However, Obi concluded his case last Friday, having presented only 10 witnesses out of the originally planned 50.
This drew criticism from certain segments of the public, particularly members of the ruling All Progressive Congress. They questioned Obi and his legal team’s dedication, dismissing them as lacking seriousness in their challenge.
Reacting during an interview, Dr. Tanko clarified that it had been agreed among all parties to limit the number of witnesses to at least 10 in order to save time.
He further confirmed that despite this agreement, some of their witnesses were unable to testify due to time constraints and unforeseen circumstances.
“It has to do with the relationship of the processes, because it was that there would be time allocated to those who would defend, who would ask questions and cross examination. Time were allocated, like for you if you are presenting a witness, you have 30 minutes and then the cross examination, 15 to 20 minutes.
“It was also agreed that despite all your proceedings, you have not less than 10 witnesses. It was an agreement between all the lawyers in the court that this is how the process will go in order to manage time, that whatever 50 witnesses can do, 10 can also do within the short period of time. You may end up finding out that even INEC may just have only two witnesses and may not even present them.
“We did even well to present all our witnesses. Some of them couldn’t travel because of the period and time to meet up with the remaining ones that we wanted to present,” he said.
Asked if he was satisfied and had confidence in the process, he said: “I have hope. I don’t want to say confidence because anything can go in our judicial system considering what we have witnessed in the past and what can be in the future. But I am hopeful that the outcome would be in the favour of the Nigerian people.”
