Peter Obi to play two video clips at presidential election court today

The video clips of interview with the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and the Commission’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye on the 2023 election tendered as evidence by Peter Obi and Labour Party will be played at the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC today, Saturday, 10, June.

The films were provided by Peter Obi a witness who had been subpoenaed to support his case to have Bola Tinubu of the APC not be declared the winner of the 2023 presidential election.

After fierce protest from the respondents’ attorneys, PEPC reportedly acknowledged the interview films that were recorded on flash drives as evidence on Friday.

Jubrin Okitepa, SAN attorney for Peter Obi, called a subpoenaed witness from channels TV, named Lucky Obowo-Isawode, a reporter and editor, at the petition’s resumed hearing.

Two subpoenas, dated May 30 and June 6, were served on the TV station to produce the video footage, the attorney told the court.

Kemi Pinhero, SAN for INEC, Akin Olujimi, SAN for President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima, and Afolabi Fashanu, SAN for the APC are the respondents’ attorneys.

While none of them opposed the witness, they did take issue with his adoption of his sworn statement.

Olujimi objected to the adoption of his sworn witness statement on behalf of the second and third respondents.

He claims that it violates a clause of the Electoral Act.

It is established that an election petition must be submitted within 21 days after the election’s notification.

The petition, a list of witnesses, and each witness’s statement must be included with the paperwork you send out.

Three months after the results were announced, the witness statement was filed today, he added.

He continued by saying that he had glanced through the petition’s pages but had not noticed the witness’s name.

He declared, “The witness is ineligible to testify before this court; this issue has been determined in this court’s ruling.

Pinhero agreed with Olujimi’s submission.

The petitioners should have included the films with their petition as required by law because they were aware of them.

He consequently pleaded with the court to sustain the objection and reject the adoption.

Fashanu, speaking for APC, agreed with the responses made by the other respondents’ attorneys.

For the purposes of compliance, he said, there is no different between a witness who has been subpoenaed and a regular witness.

As a result, he pleaded with the court to uphold the objection and reject the adoption as being without merit.

The objections of the respondents, according to Okitepa, should be dismissed if there is anything.

“A subpoena, as we all know, is a court order issued against a person.

It is competent to testify and is not under the control of the petitioner or respondent.

What harm would we incur if a witness who has been subpoenaed could testify orally? I offer: none.

He declared, “Rather, it will quicken the hands of justice.”

I thus implore the court to overturn the objection; you must view the film; no harm should result.

He informed the jury that the subpoenaed witness presented live interviews with the INEC chairman and Mr. Festus Okoye as evidence.

The attorney requested that the videos on the flash drive be played after they were tendered and admitted as evidence.

Olujimi objected, saying that since they hadn’t received the flash drive, it shouldn’t be played.

He claimed that they didn’t know what was on the flash drive and that they needed to know in order to be ready.

It would not be in the interest of a fair hearing, he argued, if we weren’t served prior to the proceeding.

While Pinhero for INEC stated the video may be shown since it had already been admitted as evidence, Fashanu for the APC sided with Olujimi.

The five-member panel, presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, did, however, adjourn until tomorrow in order to play the films and continue hearing the petition.

In the petition with the reference number CA/PEPC/03/2023, Obi and his Labor Party (LP) contest the outcome of the election that elected president Bola Tinubu.

Bola Tinubu, the president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Kashim Shettima, the vice president, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are the respondents.

The court accepted two video flash drives that were presented by a witness for Obi and his Party who had been subpoenaed.

Oladaily (
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