Court strikes out witness statements made by 13 out of 27 witnesses called by the People’s Democratic party.
Given the provisions of paragraph 45(6) of the 1st schedule of the Electoral Act, the witness statements on oath ought to have been front-loaded when the petitioners filed their petition.
This has therefore rendered their statement incompetent
Order 3 rules 2 of the federal high court civil procedure rules, which allows for the filing of a list of additional witnesses after pleading does not apply.
The provisions of the federal high court rules are subject to the provisions of the 1st schedule of the Electoral Act.
Witness deposition filed and not listed at the time of filing the petition cannot be countenance by the court.
