Absence Of Witnesses Stall Proceedings At Edo Governorship Tribunal

Proceedings at the Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja were stalled on Wednesday due to the absence of witnesses from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

INEC is listed as the 1st respondent in the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Mr Asue Ighodalo, challenging the outcome of the Sept. 21, gubernatorial election in Edo.

The commission was billed to open its defence on Wednesday after the petitioners closed their case on Monday.

At the resumed hearing, counsel to the commission, Mr Abdullahi Aliyu, told the tribunal that the five witnesses listed were still on their way to Abuja from Benin City.

Aliyu, however, tendered three documents before the Wilfred Kpochi-led three-member tribunal to show that the commission was interested in opening its case.

Edo election tribunal begins hearing Jan. 11
The documents tendered by the electoral body were the certified true copies of the collation of results at the state level (or Form EC8D), the declaration of results and the regulations and guidelines for conducting elections.

The electoral umpire assured the tribunal that it would need only one day to conclude its case.

INEC’s counsel prayed the tribunal to grant the adjournment saying it had been given a ten-day timeline for its defence, adding that it had sufficient time to open and close its case.

On his part, Mr Adetunji Oyeyipo, counsel to Ighodalo, did not object to INEC’s tendering of the document.

He said that they were the same document the PDP had already tendered to prove its case that the outcome of the Edo governorship election was flawed.

The tribunal adjourned until Thursday for the commission to call its witnesses.