Tunde Omolehin, Sokoto
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, failed to produce any of its 12 witnesses listed before the 2019 Sokoto State Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal,
At the resumed sitting in Sokoto, the first respondent, INEC, was supposed to have presented its witnesses.
But its lead counsel, Alhassan Umar, told the tribunal that they will not be presenting any.
“We have reviewed the petition and the witnesses called by the petitioners. We will rely on the evidences we have extracted from the cross-examination of the witnesses of the petitioners. We are within the law and the law allows that. So, we will not be calling any witnesses.”
In his reaction, lead counsel for the petitioners, Dr. Alex Izinyon, said: “They claimed to have 12 witnesses, but they have failed to produce them. We are ever ready.”
Lead counsel for the second respondent, Governor Aminu Waziiri Tambuwal, Emmanuel Ukala, said it was a surprise for the first respondent not to call witnesses.
“In the circumstance, in order to afford us the opportunity to gather our witnesses and make relevant applications for necessary subpoenas, we will like to commence our defence on August 1, 2019,” he said.
Lead counsel for the third respondent, Aare Akinmuyiwa Akinboro, aligned himself with the submission of the second respondent.
“We are here hoping that we will spend the next two to three days getting through the witnesses of the first respondent,” he declared.