The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) faced a jolt on Wednesday morning at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PREPEC) as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called its first subpoenaed witness for the disputed February 25 presidential election.
During the proceedings, the PDP’s lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), presented exhibits from 10 local governments in Kogi State and called one of their listed witnesses to testify on INEC’s failure to transmit results in real-time, contrary to its promise.
After cross-examining the witness, Hon. Ndubuisi Nwobu from Anambra State, Uche informed the court that the petitioners had three subpoenaed witnesses and proceeded to call the first one, an ad hoc staff of INEC.
However, before the witness could take the oath, lawyers representing INEC, Tinubu, and APC objected to the hearing of the witness’s evidence. They claimed that they had only been served with the witness’s statement that morning and needed time to study it for a thorough cross-examination.
Uche argued that, as a subpoenaed witness, they were not required to provide the witness’s statement to the respondents in advance. He pleaded with the court to proceed with at least one of the subpoenaed witnesses to make efficient use of the allotted time, as an adjournment would eat into their schedule.
To accommodate the respondents, Justice Haruna Tsammani, the Chairman of PREPEC, proposed a 30-minute break for them to review the documents and cross-examine the first subpoenaed witness. INEC, however, insisted that the witness could not testify that day because he was an ad hoc staff and needed to consult INEC’s records for adequate preparation.
As a result of the respondents’ insistence, Uche requested an adjournment until Thursday to call the three subpoenaed witnesses.
In his earlier testimony, Nwobu informed PREPEC that the election went smoothly at most polling units, including the one where he cast his vote. However, problems arose at the ward collation centers. He stated that although the election results were entered into Form EC8A at the polling units, they were not transmitted in real-time to the IReV due to the failure of the BVAS machines.
Nwobu revealed that he had intervened to prevent attacks on INEC staff who were unable to upload results in real-time. He emphasized that the promised real-time transmission of results by INEC did not occur.
The trial will continue on Thursday.
