By Musa Baba Adamu
The head of the 3-man Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Cross River, Justice Oken Inneh has disclosed that the petitioner and the 1st respondent are expected to call 20 witnesses, comprising 17 regular and 3 subpoenaed.
Justice Inneh disclosed this Thursday when she read out the Tribunal’s pre-trial decision/ruling in Calabar and maintained that the panel will begin to sit daily from 10th July 2023, till they have concluded on all the petitions.
She said the second and third respondents will call 12 witnesses comprising 3 regular and 9 subpoenaed while the fourth respondent will call 8 witnesses, comprising 7 regular and 1 subpoenaed witness.
Inneh explained further that, the examination in chief would have, not be more than 30 minutes for the witnesses and a reexamination if any, will only last for ten minutes and parties will have ten days to prove their cases.
The Tribunal also ruled that all applications withdrawn without objection, the counter affidavits are also deemed to have been withdrawn and so have been struck out.
Justice Inneh emphasized the importance of adhering to punctuality and attendance to meet the time frame.
She maintained that the daily sitting can only be disrupted if there is any superior directives.
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