We have over 400 witnesses against Buhari’s election — PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)says it has over 400 witnesses to present at the election petition tribunal where its challenge of President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection is being heard.

The party’s lead counsel, Levi Uzeugwu, said this in response to a question by the tribunal chairman, Mohammed Garba, on Monday.

Mr Uzeugwu however added that if they were able to present 300 witnesses before the close of time allowed for the applicants to prove their case, they would review their position.

Mr Uzeugwu was responding to a question intended to help the tribunal arrange a timetable for the hearing of the substantive application.

He had been asked by Mr Garba to note the number of witnesses they had so that the court would decide on the duration of time to be allowed for each party to cross examine the witnesses.

“We have over 400 witnesses. But if we are able to present up to 300 we will review our case,” Mr Uzuegwu said.

After a brief explanation on the need for the parties to consider the time allowed, Mr Uzuegwu requested the court to stand down for 30 minutes to allow them decide on the witnesses they would bring and help the court in planning its schedule.

The request was granted. The court is currently on a recess for 30 minutes.

The court had earlier reserved its ruling in the pre-hearing application brought by the PDP challenging the June 11 decision of the Court, which saw the withdrawal of a motion by the APC.

The motion withdrawn by the APC on June 11 was one of two similar motions earlier filed by the party, challenging the validity of the PDP’s petition.

The PDP however objected that withdrawal because the party believed that the motion ought to have been struck out, rather than been withdrawn.