Another setback for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as Kano State Governorship Election Petition tribunal, on Tuesday, dismissed the application by the PDP Kano State chapter requesting for a leave of the court to amend the list of the petitioners witnesses.
The counsel to the petitioners, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), filed a motion requesting for a leave of the court to align the initials on the list to tally with the names of witnesses. He further urged the tribunal to permit for the streamlining of the names of 68 witnesses.
Awomolo in an affidavit filed on 31st July 2019, supported with an affidavit deposed to by Sadiq Sabo Kurawa, the PDP and its gubernatorial candidate in the 2019 elections, Abba Kabiru Yusuf, prayed for the permission to cross match the names of their witnesses against acronyms, initials and their exact names.
The counsel representing Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Offiong Offiong (SAN) objected to the motion, he said that the request was an attempt to sneak in new witnesses before the tribunal.
Offiong told the court that the respondent had filed a counter affidavit in urging the court to dismiss the motion.
Counsel representing, All Progressive Congress, APC, Alex Iziyon, said that the party was adopting the position of the first respondent. He informed the court that the second respondent has a counter affidavit to puncture the demands made by the petitioners.
The tribunal presided over by Justice Halima Shamaki in its ruling dismissed the application, noting that the petitioners by their action were yarning to enlist new witnesses.
Shamaki stated that the enlisting of witnesses, in election matters was time bound, explaining that the period within which fresh names could be enlisted had elapsed.
The three-man tribunal held that the application by the petitioners seeking to make an amend on the list of witnesses is simply described as an abuse of court process. – The Nation