Opinion
By POEM
IT was indeed a great day for the Petitioners in court yesterday from beginning to end of proceedings at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal holding at the Abuja Appeal Court. The Obi vs Tinubu case was not devoid of usual fireworks but all four witnesses the Petitioners presented gave good testimonies in evidence to advance the task of proving their petition.
It started with cross-examination of PW8, the Cyber Security Expert witness by name, Dr Chibuike Nwoke, who was presented, sworn to oath and his deposition admitted in evidence the previous day. But stepped down for cross-examination based on the objections of the four Respondents, who asked for 24 hours for adequate preparation.
The four Respondents, INEC, Tinubu, Shettima and APC came well armed with question to discredit the integrity of the witness, render his assertions unreliable as well as turn his facts into fiction. But the expert witness stood firm and even tutored them on facts where necessary. Dr. Nwoke proved that it is not a difficult task to appear before a team of preying SANs, intent on devouring when you know your facts and when they are predicated on nothing but the truth.
Then followed PW11, whose deposition was adopted and admitted…and also cross-examined as well as PW12.
But PW12 is rather interesting. He is the head of Legal Services, National Information Technology Development Authority, NITDA. He was subpoenaed and his witness was all about telling the court that there was no document from INEC in their custody. When he stepped down, the star witnessed PW13 stepped in.
PW13 is Dr. Tanko Yunusa, the Labour Party Presidential Spokesperson. He ended up breathing life into all earlier documents that needed to avoid the dumping tag as well as tendered other necessary documents the Petitioners couldn’t tender from the bar. Having run out time, he was stepped down to face cross-examinations today. Expect another day of fireworks.
That ended a very busy day of every minute very well-spent by the Petitioners. The court adjourned at this juncture to 3.00 pm today, June 23.
A.
Tags: Dr Chibuike Nwoke INEC NITDA. POEM Shettima Tinubu
