The Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of the November 16, 2019 governorship election in Kogi State, Engineer Musa Wada, on Monday listed a total of 259 witnesses to give evidence at the tribunal.
Wada and his party had in December 2019, filed their petition against the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Yahaya Bello and the All Progressives Congress (APC) before the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja.
They are challenging the outcome of the November 16, 2019 election in the state, which according to them, did not reflect the actual votes cast at the election.
They are consequently asking the three-man panel headed by Justice Kashim G. Kaigama, to determine and declare that the second respondent (Bello) was not duly elected and/or returned by a majority of lawful votes cast during the election.
They are also seeking a declaration that neither the second nor the third respondent scored the majority of lawful votes cast at the election to the office of the state governor.
They are therefore praying the tribunal to issue an order nullifying the Certificate of Return issued to Bello by INEC and in addition, issue an order nullifying the entire governorship election conducted in the state by reason of substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the Constitution and extant Electoral Act 2010 (As amended).
At the pre-hearing sitting which held on January 30, the court after listening to parties adjourned till yesterday for hearing proper on the pre-hearing application and when the court resumed, several applications were moved by parties while some were withdrawn without objection by the opposing party.
