The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday presented 10 witnesses before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting before the Court of Appeal in Abuja and officially closed its defence.
One of the witnesses called yesterday by the PDP, Mr. Ekpo Asuquo Okon, the state chairman of PDP in Cross River State, said that his traditional ruler did not force him to vote for anybody and that he did not see any traditional ruler following people to vote in the polling units.
Okon said that he had been the state chairman of PDP since 2008 and only heard of the existence and presence of CPC shortly before the April 2011 elections and that the party did not campaign in Cross Rivers State.
Before adjourning the petition to October 20, Justice Akaahs said: “We have come to the conclusion of the public hearing; that is end of all oral evidence. We want to use this opportunity to thank all parties for the spirit of decorum you have displayed. By constitutional provision, we must determine the petition within one hundred and eighty days of filing the petition and the time is fast approaching.”