The Chairman of the 2024 Edo Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, disclosed on Saturday that parties have agreed to call 290 witnesses.
The chairman, who adjourned the hearing to January 13, 2025, also disclosed that the time frame for the examination of witnesses and how the hearing would run have also been agreed upon.
Reading the adopted pre-hearing report, Kpochi said, “The parties have agreed to call a total of 290 witnesses.
“The report outlines the timeframe for the examination of witnesses, with 40 minutes allocated for examination-in-chief for each star witness, 30 minutes for cross-examination by the petitioners, and 20 minutes for cross-examination by each respondent.”
Other agreements reached by the parties, according to the chairman, include the allocation of 10 minutes for re-examination of each star witness and 25 minutes for examination-in-chief for other ordinary witnesses.
Further citing the report, the chairman said petitioners are expected to call their witnesses within 21 days or less, while respondents will have 10 days each to call their witnesses.
He said the tribunal would sit daily from 10 am, except on Sundays and other public holidays gazetted by law.
Justice Kpochi said there would be no consolidation of the petition with any other as there was no application with respect to it, and no amendment of such shall be entertained.
The chairman said parties agreed to call only witnesses whose statements on oath had been front-loaded and may call subpoenaed witnesses where necessary.
According to him, there shall be an interpreter for some witnesses from English to any native language, such as Benin, Esan, and Auchi dialects, and vice versa.
He then adjourned the hearing to January 13, 2025, following the adoption of the pre-hearing report.
In this case, the petitioners, Asue Ighodalo and the Peoples Democratic Party are challenging Monday Okpebholo’s declaration as the winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
In the September 21 governorship election, INEC declared Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the Edo election, having polled 291,667 votes, defeating PDP’s Ighodalo, who recorded 247,274 votes.