The Presidential Election Petition Court on Tuesday consolidated all the petitions against the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, and fixed May 30, 2023 for the commencement of the definite hearing of the petition filed by Atiku Abubakar and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The consolidation was contained in a pre-hearing report read by the chairman of the five-man panel of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani.
According to the report, Atiku has three weeks to present his case at the tribunal.
Here is the report as released by the court on Thursday via its Twitter handle.
REPORT OF THE PREPEC 2023 PRE-HEARING SESSION
The Petitioners Atiku Abubakar and his party PDP filed this Petition on the 21st of March, 2023. In the Pre-hearing Session held from the 8th of May, 2023 to the 22nd of May, 2023 the following were considered by the Honorable Court.
JOINDER OF PARTIES: No joinder of additional parties was sought by any of the parties during the pre-hearing period. AMENDMENTS: No amendment was made by the parties to their pleadings.
ORDER OF WITNESSES: Petitioners indicated they will call more than 100 witnesses but stated that they will require 3weeks to prove their case since. Parties indicated they may call expert & subpoenaed witnesses. There are a total of 166 witnesses to be called in this Petition.
INTERPRETER: The 2nd and 3rd Respondents all indicated that they will need the services of interpreter to interpret the proceedings from English to any of the Nigerian languages as may be required. EXPERTS: All the parties indicated that they may call their expert witnesses.
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SETTLEMENT OUT-OF-COURT: Parties stated that no settlement out of Court is being contemplated. ASSISTANCE BY COURT: All parties categorically stated that they cannot be assisted by the Court without a hearing; so all the parties subscribed to the hearing of the petition.
SETTLEMENT OF DOCUMENTS: Parties stated they will rely on documents contained in their respective pleadings. At the pre-hearing session, parties indicated they will not be objecting to electoral documents duly certified by INEC, but reserved rights to object to other documents.
Hence, parties were only able to settle & agree on documents certified by INEC. Since those documents are public documents consented to by parties, it shall, in line with Paragraph 41(2) of the 1st Schedule to the Electoral Act,2022,be tendered from the Bar & admitted during the hearing.
Parties agreed arguments on documents objected to while tendering should be reserved & reasons given at the address stage, with the provision that separate addresses on such objections may be made by parties. Parties agreed to file & exchange schedule of documents before date of hearing.
INTERLOCUTORY APPLICATIONS: 10 interlocutory applications were made by parties &considered by the Court. In line with dictates of Section 285(8) of the 1999 Constitution, the Court heard those interlocutory applications & deferred rulings on same to be delivered at final judgment.
The Petitioners also filed an application for live streaming of court proceedings. The Court found that the application relates to an issue that borders on judicial policy, which is outside the jurisdictional mandate of PREPEC. Consequently, the Court struck out the application.
SETTLEMENT OF ISSUES: Parties filed &adopted their issues for determination. Since parties have not agreed on issues to be determined, the Tribunal shall after consideration of issues formulated by parties & evidence adduced by parties at trial, distill the issues for determination.
EXAMINATION&CROSS-EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES:As parties were unable to agree on modalities for examination & cross examination of witnesses, the Court orders that, in line with paragraph 41(3) of the 1st schedule to the Electoral Act,2022,there shall be no oral examination of witnesses.
Parties are only to lead their respective witnesses to adopt their written depositions on oath and identify documents where required. For star witnesses, examination in chief shall be for 30mins while cross examination and re-examination shall be for 20 and 5mins, respectively.
As for other witnesses of the parties,10mins each for examination in chief and cross examination,& 5mins for re-examination. Respondents cross examining each other have 5mins. Given the time bound nature of this petition, the time allotted shall be monitored and strictly enforced.
PRESENTATION OF CASES BY THE PARTIES: Given the time bound nature of this proceedings: The Petitioners have three weeks to prove their case. The 1st Respondent INEC have 2days, while 2nd and 3rd Respondents Tinubu & APC have 5 days each to present their respective cases.
CONSOLIDATION OF ACTION: Petitioners & 1st Respondent were not opposed to the consolidation of this petition.However,other Respondents opposed consolidation. In line with Paragraph50 of 1st Schedule to the Electoral Act,2022,the Court determined that this Petition be consolidated.
ADDITIONAL PRE-HEARING SESSION: No extension of the pre-hearing period was sought and none was granted. Hearing shall commence 30th of May, 2023. The Registry shall issue the requisite Hearing Notice as required by Paragraph 20(1) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, 2022.
REPORT OF THE PREPEC 2023 PRE-HEARING SESSION
The Petitioners Atiku Abubakar and his party PDP filed this Petition on the 21st of March, 2023.
In the Pre-hearing Session held from the 8th of May, 2023 to the 22nd of May, 2023
the following were considered by the Honorable Court— Court of Appeal, Nigeria (CoA) (@NGCourtofAppeal) May 26, 2023
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
