Nigerians will be wondering what will happen to the presidential election petitions after Bola Ahmed Tinubu attends the inauguration that will make him Nigeria’s President.
While that thought lingers, the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been blamed for delaying the preparation of the Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi.
The delay now means that the inauguration will hold without that case going any direction at all.
At the hearing on Saturday, Obi told the Tribunal that he would be presenting 50 witnesses to testify and tender evidence proving the election was rigged in favour of Bola Tinubu, the president-elect.
Through his team of lawyers led by Professor Awa Kalu, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Obi told the court that he would need seven weeks to prepare his witnesses and case.
INEC Not Allowing Forensic Examination
According to him, he had faced challenges with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Also Read: Court Postpones Hearing On Atiku’s Petition As He Preps 100 Witnesses
With the inauguration of the president slated for May 29, Obi cannot make his case before a new president is sworn-in.
It would be until at least July before his seven weeks would be up.
His counsel said: “My lords, we still have a few hiccups at INEC because of the order that was made by this court on March 8, directing them to allow us to carry out a forensic examination of the BVAS. They have not allowed us.
“We are also waiting for some documents we requested from them”.
Obi’s lawyers said their star witnesses would be given 30 minutes to present their evidence-in-chief, excluding the time for possible demonstration of any electronic evidence.
Obi’s lawyer also disclosed that parties agreed to use 20 minutes each to cross-examine the witnesses, another five minutes would be used for their re-examination.
