The People’s Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party’s Peter Obi each have three weeks to make their cases to the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja regarding the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
This was said at a hearing on Tuesday at the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
The court declared that there would be no oral cross-examination of witnesses and that the adoption of witness statements would be necessary in order to ensure a swift hearing of the case.
For star witnesses, the time allocation is as follows: 30 minutes for the main piece of evidence, 20 minutes for cross-examination, and 5 minutes for re-examination.
The hearing for Peter Obi will start on May 30 and end on June 23.
Atiku was also allowed three weeks by the PDP to present his case; the hearing started on May 30 and ended on June 20.
As it only had one witness to call, the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) was permitted to present its case one day.
The court said that as witnesses can only accept their written statements, there will be no oral cross-examination of witnesses in accordance with Section 41(3) of the 1st Schedule of the Election Act.
The APM hearing will start on May 30 and end on July 3. The evidence is anticipated to be finished on June 6.
In contrast to the second and third responders (Tinubu and the APC), who each had five days, the first respondent (INEC) was allowed two days.
The Labor Party and the PDP will complete their cases on June 23, while the hearing for the combined lawsuit will start on May 30 across the board.
The Tribunal is anticipated to meet every day of the week, even on Saturdays.
