The Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, has turned down the request to disqualify the witnesses of All Progressives Congress (APC), who gave testimonies in the last governorship election in the state.

The Tribunal rejected the second objection raised by a counsel to Governor Emmanuel Udom and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), against the witnesses of the APC governorship candidate, Mr Umana Umana.

It further requested that the witnesses be disallowed from testifying with their statements on oath because the statements carried no names or any identity.

However, the tribunal again, ruled in the favour of the APC saying, the objections would not be disallowed where it qualifies.

The tribunal said that the Governor and his party did not raise any new point, as such, its previous ruling stands.

At the resumed hearing, the APC called its witnesses, but the lawyer to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State and the PDP, Tayo Oyetibo, objected the move to adopt their written statements on the ground that there was no evidence to confer ownership of the statements to the seven witnesses whose names do not appear on the said statements on oath.

In his response, the lawyer to the APC, Paul Usoro, asked the tribunal to dismiss the objection of the Governor on the ground that the issue was raised at the previous proceedings and a comprehensive ruling was given by the Tribunal to settle the matter.

He, however, argued that it would amount to abuse of court process for the tribunal to allow a settled matter to be revived on the same issue and on the same subject matter.

In a short ruling, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Sadiq Umar, upheld the argument of the APC and rejected the move to disqualify its witnesses and their statement on oath.

Justice Umar said that the objection was overruled on the grounds that the same subject matter was canvassed at the previous proceedings and since there were no new issues raised by the Governor and his party, the objection failed.

According to the judge, the decision does not mean that where an object is right in law, it would not be considered or allowed. (Channels TV)

Photo shows: Gov Emmanuel

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