At the resumed hearing of the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the March 2023 election in Nasarawa State, Dr. David Ombugadu, against the declaration of Governor Abdullahi Sule as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lafia, on Wednesday, received the testimony of two witnesses.
The two witnesses, who were marked as PW-18 Ibrahim Sa’ad and PW-19, were cross-examined by the counsels. While PW-18 tendered his PVC, agent card and PDP membership card, PW-19 only tendered his agent card.
Both witnesses identified some exhibits, which had been tendered to the Tribuna and marked as such.
The issue of failure to file a schedule of witnesses by the Petitioners was earlier raised at the Tribunal. All Respondents objected to this as they claimed it is a mandatory requirement of the Electoral Act that they must be served with such a schedule, otherwise, it will amount to springing up surprises. However, the Petitioners submitted that the pre-hearing report did not make any such provision.
The Tribunal overruled the Respondents based on the fact that the need to make progress should not be sacrificed on technicalities and the matter proceeded for hearing.
The matter was, however, adjourned to 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th August 2023, for continuation of hearing.