According to Tanko Yinusa, the spokeswoman for the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential campaign council (PCC), the party could only call 13 witnesses owing to the little amount of time the court allowed.
According to a report from Vanguard, Yinusa was one of the witnesses that testified for the party in the current Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).
Remember that Peter Obi, the LP candidate for president in 2023, stated in May that he would bring 50 witnesses who would testify and give proof to prove that the election was rigged against him.
In the petition titled CA/PEPC/03/2023, which contests the election of President Bola Tinubu on February 25, Obi and the LP are named as complainants.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) are named as respondents in the petition.
On Friday, June 23, 2023, Obi and his LP ended their appeal at the PEPC without showing 37 of the 50 witnesses they had promised.
However, in an interview with This Day Newspaper on Sunday, June 25, Tanko stated that it was an understanding between all sides to have at least 10 witnesses in order to save time.
He said:
“It has to do with the relationship of the processes because it was that there would be time allocated to those who would defend, who would ask questions and cross-examination.
“Time were allocated, like for you if you are presenting a witness, you have 30 minutes and then the cross-examination, 15 to 20 minutes.”