By Nicholas Ojo
The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal said it rejected 10 out of 13 witnesses presented by the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.
Reading the main judgment in the petition filed by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP), Justice Haruna Tsammani held that the witness’ statements were incompetent having been made in breach of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The justice held that three of the 13 witnesses called by LP: Professor Eric Ofoedu of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (PW 4); Ijeoma Osamor of the AIT (PW7); and Clarita Ogar of Amazon Web Services (PW 8) were inadmissible in evidence.
He explained that Ofoedu admitted in evidence that he was hired and began work before the election.
He added that Osamor admitted in evidence that the video recordings of INEC chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu were downloaded online.
Justice Tsammani held that Ogar admitted to being an interested party in the petition as a House of Representative candidate of the LP, adding that she also admitted to attending the court hearings as a witness, against the rules of the court.
