He said the report outlined the timeframe for the examination of witnesses, with 40 minutes allocated for examination-in-chief for each star witness, 30 minutes for cross-examination by the petitioners, and 20 minutes for cross-examination by each respondent.
He said other agreements reached by the parties include the allocation of 10 minutes for re-examination of each star witness and 25 minutes for examination-in-chief for other ordinary witnesses.
The petitioners are expected to call their witnesses within 21 days or less, while respondents will have 10 days each to call their witnesses, as the tribunal will sit daily from 10 a.m., except on Sundays and other public holidays gazetted by law.
Justice Kpochi said there shall be no consolidation of the petition with any other, as there was no application in respect thereof, and no amendment of such shall be entertained. He added that parties agreed to call only witnesses whose statements on oath had been frontloaded and may call subpoenaed witnesses where necessary.
Besides, he said there shall be an interpreter for some witnesses from English to any native language like Benin, Esan, Auchi dialects, and vice versa.
The petitioners, Dr. Asue Ighodalo and the PDP, are challenging the declaration of Okpebholo as the winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to the election results announced by INEC, Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat PDP’s Ighodalo, who recorded 247,274 votes.