Ganduje Vs Yusuf: Judge Dismiss PDP’s Petition To Correct Errors

The Peoples Democratic Party have suffered a setback in the election petition tribunal sitting in Kano after a motion filed by the party governorship candidate, Abba Kabir, to correct his witnesses applications was dismissed.

The opposition party claimed that the new eight witnesses they are submitting are to correct errors in the list of witnesses it submitted before the tribunal earlier on.

The presiding judge, Justice Halima S. Muhammad, in her judgement, stated that PDP was late in trying to correct its Witnesses’ application because the time for doing so has since elapsed.

She further stated 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.

The counsel to PDP, Abiodun Awonikoko (SAN), while reacting to the dismissal of the petition stated that the party would explore other options at its disposal to see that their prayer was granted.

One of the counsels to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, Barrister M. A. Lawan, 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.