Governorship Election Petition tribunal, sitting in Kano State, on Tuesday, ruled in favour of the All Progressives Congress, APC as it dismissed the application by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, requesting for a leave of the court to amend the list of the petitioner’s witnesses.
Lawyer to the PDP, barrister Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) had filed a motion requesting for a leave of the court to align the initials on the list to tally with the names of witnesses.
The senior lawyer also urged the tribunal to permit for the streamlining of the names of 68 witnesses.
Awomolo in an affidavit filed on 31st July 2019, supported with an affidavit deposed to by Sadiq Sabo Kurawa, the PDP and its gubernatorial candidate in the 2019 elections, Abba Kabiru Yusuf prayed for the permission to cross match the names of their witnesses against acronyms, initials and their exact names.
However, the lawyer to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Offiong Offiong (SAN) objected to the motion, saying that the request was an attempt to sneak in new witnesses before the tribunal
Ganduje lawyer told the Tribunal that the respondent have filed a counter affidavit in urging the court to dismiss the motion.
Also the APC lawyer Barrister Alex Iziyon told the court that the party was adopting the position of the first respondent, informing the Tribunal that the second respondent have a counter affidavit to puncture the demands made by the petitioners.
The Justice Halima Shamaki-led Tribunal in its ruling, however, dismissed the application the PDP noting that the petitioners by their action were yearning to enlist new witnesses.
The judge aded that the enlisting of witnesses, in election matters was time bound, explaining that the period within which fresh names could be enlisted had elapsed.
The three-man panel of the tribunal ruled that the application by the PDP seeking to make an amend on the list of witnesses is simply described as an abuse of court process.
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