Oyetola, Adeleke’s Lawyers Agree on Tribunal Procedure

Legal teams of the petitioners and respondents in the Election Petition Tribunal hearing issues arising from the July 16 Osun governorship poll, on Tuesday, agreed on the procedure to be adopted in the hearing of the petition.

Intimating the panel of the agreement already reached by both parties regarding the procedure that the sitting would follow, the lead counsel for Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress, who are the petitioners, Mr Lasun Sanusi (SAN), who appeared with Dr Abiodun Layoonu (SAN), Prof Kayode Olatoke (SAN), and Mr Yomi Aliu, said the counsels agreed that that the panel should sit, starting from 10 am every Monday to Friday.

Sanusi also said the examination of witnesses would take five minutes, with 10 minutes allocated for cross-examination, while re-examination would take five minutes.

He said 15 minutes duration was agreed on for expert witnesses, cross-examination of the same witness would take 20 minutes and re-examination of the witness would take five minutes.

The petitioners’ lawyer said the counsels had agreed that evidence should be tendered by consent, and in the case of objection, the ruling would be reserved till the judgement stage.

Responding, counsel for the first respondent, the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Paul Ananaba (SAN), that of Senator Ademola Adeleke, the second respondent in the matter, Mr Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN), and the counsel for the Peoples Democratic Party, the third respondent, Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN), all agreed to the procedure for the trial announced by the petitioner’s counsel.

They said they had filed responses to pre-hearing forms served on them by the tribunal.

Izinyon and Ogunwumiju, while addressing the panel separately, said the petitioner’s counsel had not adopted his pre-trial form before the tribunal, saying the document should be deemed abandoned.

But Sanusi, while responding, dismissed the claim that he had not adopted his form and urged the panel to discountenance it.

Izinyon said he had two motions before the tribunal and disclosed plans to make an oral application, drawing the attention of the panel to the decision of a court in Abuja that had invalidated the reason the tribunal was set up.

But the panel chairman, Justice Tertsea Kume, told him to file a formal application and upon agreement of counsel, he adjourned sitting till October 13 for the hearing of all pre-trial applications.