From Yakubu Busari,Jos
The governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in Plateau State, Dr Nentawe Yilwatda on Friday closed his case with 49 witnesses at the ongoing Governorship Election Tribunal sitting at the State High Court premises.
The APC candidate spent three weeks to prove all the allegations of fraud that is anchored on two grounds of the People’s Democratic party, PDP, structure and over voting while defending his petition before the Governorship Election Petition challenging the nomination and sponsorship of Barrister Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang by his party, PDP.
According to Dr. Nentawe and his lead counsel, Prof Kayode Olatoye, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN, they closed their petition against the INEC, Caleb Mutfwang and PDP after taking the last expert witness who testified and presented two hundred pages of report of the 2023 Governorship Election .
The witness, Dr. Nentawe Yusuf from University of Jos, was PW 49 .
While standing on examination in chief he was shown and identified Exhibits C1 to C1 7 but said the date was 21-6-2023 instead of 31-3-2023.
When the witness was shown some copies of duplicate results that was tendered by the Commissioner of Police, Plateau Command to identify his Counsel to the respondents objected vehemently that a witness can’t be shown a document to identify without tendering such documents.
Pius Akubo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Lead Counsel to the second respondents, said there was a fundamental issue that called for attention as there was an order of tribunal that any copies of any document to be tendered by the petitioners, should be served to the respondents 24 hours before tendering.
The Petitioners pleaded for a consultant report.
Akubo said, “As my Lords can see that the consultant report is bound in almost 100 pages and no copy have been served to us as ordered by the tribunal and the days of trial by ambush has gone.”
The third respondents’ Counsel,Emeka Etiaba, SAN, said there was no way the Petitioners will smuggle such documents.
The Counsel to the Petitioners,Yakubu Ruba ,SAN, responded by making a comment that the “learned counsel to the Petitioners said I smuggled documents and last time,this tribunal frowned at the news story of the Plateau Radio Television Corporation using the same word smuggling of documents and for that, he needed to apologize.”
Etiaba then withdrew the word, ‘ smuggle,” from his earlier statement.
The tribunal then ruled that in the interest of Justice, copies of the consultant report be serve to all the respondents and adjourned the matter to Friday for continuation of trial.
At the resumption on Friday, the witnesses passed through a rigorous process of examination and cross- examination and the Judges then ruled that from the circumstances before this tribunal, there was need to proceed on schedule and therefore adjourned hearing to Monday,17th July,2023 for the first Respondents to open their defends,
Respondents have been reminding the Petitioners to close their case.
The counsel to the first respondents pleaded for adjournment to Wednesday because some of their staff who will testify as witnesses have been transferred and needed to be informed.
The tribunal reminded them that there days start running from Monday,17-7-2023, also for the INEC to open her defense.
