The election petition tribunal sitting in Kano has dismissed a motion filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gubernatorial Candidate, Abba Kabir Yusuf praying to correct his witnesses’ applications.
The PDP said the new eight witnesses they are submitting is to correct errors in the list of witnesses it submitted before the tribunal earlier on.
In her Judgement on the matter, the presiding Judge, Justice Halima S. Muhammad, said PDP was late in trying to correct its Witnesses’ application because the time for doing so has since elapsed.
She added that the tribunal has no jurisdiction to grant the prayers of the petitioner to add, subtract or alter any name, as that could amount to an amendment of the petition which is against the constitutional provisions.
Reacting to the ruling, counsel to PDP, Abiodun Awonikoko (SAN), said since the court had dismissed the application on ground of jurisdiction, the petition party would explore other options at its disposal to see that their prayer was granted.
On his part, Barrister M. A. Lawan, one of the counsels to Governor Ganduje, expressed satisfaction with the ruling, saying granting the application could have amounted to an amendment of the petition which was against the provisions of the law.
The tribunal also judged on the pre-trial conference report in which the petitioners were granted 14 days to present their witnesses, while 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents were granted 10 days each to present theirs as the trial proper commences on Monday, July 22, 2019.
