INEC Witnesses Absent As Presidential Tribunal Begins Defence Hearing

At the beginning of the defence hearing of the February 25 presidential election at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPEC), Abuja, reporters observed that witnesses of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were absent.

Contrary to scheduled court action on Monday, July 3, INEC, which held contested elections and claimed it was conducting public advocacy, appeared in court without witnesses.

Its lead counsel, former NBA President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmud (SAN) informed the court that it planned to call three witnesses to rebut the claims of the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

However, he regretted that due to family reasons, he could not start his defense without witnesses in court.

Mahmud appealed to the court for leniency and asked for the defense to be postponed.

Livy Uzuoku SAN on the other hand expressed shock and astonishment at the conduct of the electoral body.

Uzuoku told the court that INEC lawyers should have kept him secret until the process began.

However, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN (SAN) representing President Bola Tinubu and Latif Olanipekun representing the All Progressives Congress Party (APC), Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN (Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN) did not object to the delay in the referral of the INEC request.

Court President Haruna Simona Tsammani then set July 4 as the new date for the organization of the election.