The election petition tribunal sitting in Benin City has disclosed that Asue Ighodalo, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the All Progressives Congress, APC, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and Governor Monday Okpebholo will be calling 290 witnesses during the hearing of their petition.

According to reports, the tribunal is adjudicating on the declaration of Monday Okpebholo, the candidate of APC winner of the last September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State by Asue Ighodalo, the PDP candidate.

Asue Ighodalo and his party, PDP are challenging the declaration of Monday Okpebholo and his party winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

According to reports, the chairman of the three-man tribunal, Justice Wilfred Ikpochi disclosed this at the weekend during the presentation of the pre-hearing reports and scheduling to parties in the petition.

Ikpochi did not, however, give the breakdown of the number of witnesses that each of the petitioners and respondents would call during the trial.

He said the 290 witnesses were proposed by the parties in the harmonized proposal for the pre-hearing conference.

He said the parties will only call witnesses whose statements on oath have been frontloaded and subpoenaed witnesses where necessary.

The court added that the petitioners shall call their witnesses within 21 days or less while each of the respondents shall be allowed 10 days or less to call their witnesses.

“The parties may call expert witnesses as indicated in their pre-hearing answers.

“All pleading documents shall be rendered and admitted by the tribunal while objections thereto shall be filled separately during final addresses. Objections to such documents during trial shall be noted and rulings reserved appropriately, “he said.

He also added that all frivolous and unnecessary applications for adjournments shall not be granted by the tribunal as the election petitions are time-bound.

According to him, whenever, it becomes very expedient to fast-track the proceedings, the tribunal shall bridge the time for doing anything in accordance with the rules as prescribed by the Electoral Act 2022.

Justice Kpochi, further added that on no account should any written address filed by counsel be more than 40 pages.

He said the address should be of double spacing format with 14 font size.

He, however, advised all counsel to imbibe the spirit of good brief writing in compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.

Others presented in the reports by the tribunal are that there shall be no consolidation of the petition with any other petition as there was no application in respect thereof and there shall be no amendment of amendment as none is required.

“There shall be no further particulars or admissions save the application by the petitioners for interrogatories directed to the INEC, Monday Okpebholo as first and second respondents requesting for particulars articulated in the copies of the proposed interrogatories that have been filed along with the application in motion No-EPT/ED/GOV/02/M10/2024 filed on December 6, 2024, that has been granted.

The tribunal chairman, who adjourned to January 13, 2025, for hearing, said the court shall be sitting from day to day from 10am except on Sundays and other public holidays gazetted by law.

He, however, stated that the sitting period is subject to reviews as the exigencies of the workload permit.

DAILYPOST

United States former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has sounded off about Elon Musk’s influence over the spending drama on Capitol Hill.

Clinton’s comments come as House Democrats claim that ‘Extreme MAGA’ Republicans were driving the country to a government shutdown.

“If you’re just catching up: the Republican Party, taking orders from the world’s richest man, is on course to shut down the government over the holidays.

“Stopping paychecks for our troops and nutrition benefits for low-income families just in time for Christmas,” Clinton wrote in a post on X.

Fox News reports that the U.S government will go into partial shutdown at midnight Saturday if there’s no passable deal to kick the government funding deadline to March and continue spending at 2024 levels.

According to the report, Musk had come out in strong opposition to the original spending deal House Speaker, Mike Johnson, negotiated with Democrats.

However, the world richest man threatened to back a primary challenge to any Republican who voted for it.

Meanwhile, House Republicans on Thursday came out with a new version, which was substantially shorter and included both disaster aid and a suspension of the debt ceiling for two years, as President-elect Donald Trump had requested.

But the measure failed in the House, with some Republicans refusing to back it and Democrats uniting against it, with many apparently unhappy with Musk’s apparent influence.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State has faulted the suspension of chairmen in the 18 local governments of the state by the House of Assembly.

In a statement by the state PDP Chairman, Anthony Aziegbemi on Tuesday in Benin, the party described the action as unconstitutional, null and void.

Aziegbemi explained that the suspension disregarded the recent ruling of the Chief Judge of Edo State, Justice Daniel Okungbowa.

According to him, the suspension was a blatant violation of the Supreme Court’s decision, which affirmed the autonomy and independence of local governments, as guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“How can a governor direct the State Assembly to suspend democratically elected chairmen of the 18 local councils for insubordination when these officials enjoy autonomy and independence as enshrined in the Constitution,” he said.