Funso Muraina
17 October 2007
Abuja — The legal battle to invalidate the April 14 presidential election begins today as the Court of Appeal in Abuja yesterday consolidated the petitions of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd ) of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Action Congress (AC).
They are expected to call up a total of 747 witnesses to establish and prove their cases along with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The presiding Justice James Ogebe who explained that arguments on the petitions would not go beyond three months also stated that the petitions would be heard on daily basis without any room for distractions.
In consolidating the petitions, the presiding Justice Ogebe relied on paragraph 46 of the 1st Schedule to the Electoral Act 2006, saying the action was taken to save time and cost both to the parties and the country.
By virtue of Section 310 of the Election Practice Direction, he also directed that the parties shall not be allowed to call more than the total number of witnesses indicated to the court.
At yesterday's sitting, General Buhari stated that he had a total of 150 witnesses which might be reduced to 50 in case the court is disposed to allowing him put in additional depositions, saying it would take him about a month to conclude his evidence.
On his own part, Atiku, who was absent in court but whose supporters came in hundreds, said that he would call 204 witnesses and that he would require 45 days to exhaust evidence.
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, informed the court that a month would be sufficient to put across the evidence of their 174 witnesses.
INEC, represented by Chief Amaechi Nwaiwu (SAN), said it has 215 witnesses to call and would require 45 days to examine them.
The Chief of Defence Staff through Mrs. Lami Jubril and the police represented by Mrs. Pamela Ohabor said it has a total number of three and one witnesses respectively.
Buhari's counsel, Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN), who wanted to commence the tendering of his exhibits already compiled, was unable to do so as the court ordered him to consult with defence team.
He said that what he wanted to do was to list all witnesses and documents to ease the assignment.
At the last adjourned date, Justice Ogede had said that the tribunal would take the last set of pre-hearing matters by 8th of October and would set the petitions down for hearing.
He said so far the tribunal had given everybody opportunity to present his case having taken vital motions preparatory to the real battle.
Justice Ogede who had earlier granted the application asking the court to strike out from the list of respondents the name of the ANPP Chairman Chief Edwin Emezeoke said that the tribunal was not ready for any delay as the whole world was watching.
He gave the same reason to decline the motion by Professor A.B. Kasumu praying the court to allow interrogatories to be served on the 1st and 2nd respondents, stressing that whatever information or admission the applicant was seeking should wait until the hearing stage when evidence would be taken.
Professor Kasumu told the court that the intention of his motion was not only to help himself but also to help the court in achieving speedy trial.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
