Atiku asks PEPC for three weeks to call 100 witnesses against Tinubu’s victory

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 presidential election, Alhaji Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has requested for three weeks to call 100 witnesses to prove his case against the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Atiku and his party, the PDP, made the request at the resumed proceedings before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting in Abuja, on Saturday, through the head of his legal team, Chief Chris Uche (SAN).

According to Atiku, among those he has lined up to testify in the matter, would include expert witnesses and those he would ask the court to compel to mount the witness box.

“We may not even exhaust the three weeks because the issues are getting narrower, “Atiku’s lawyer, Uche SAN, added.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), through its lawyer, Abubakar Mahmood (SAN), on the other hand, told the court that it would only call two witnesses.

The President-elect, Tinubu, on his part, said he would only need two days to deflate Atiku’s case.

Tinubu’s lead counsel at the proceedings, Mr Roland Otaro (SAN) also disclosed that his client would call 39 witnesses to testify before the court, not excluding other persons he may apply to be subpoenaed to appear before the court.

The ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) through its counsel, Mr Solomon Umoh (SAN), said it would also need two days to call 39 witnesses before the court

It would be recalled that Atiku and the PDP, in their joint petition marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023, are praying the court to among other things, withdraw the Certificate of Return that was issued to the President-elect by INEC.

According to them, the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election was “invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022”.