Governor Uba Sani, of Kaduna State, has accused the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and its Governorship candidate in the March 8 election, Mohammed Isa Ashiru of attempting to force the Election Petition Tribunal back to the pre-hearing stage, when proceedings should be rounding off.

Sani, a co-defendant in Isa’s judicial challenge to his victory, has subsequently, through his legal team, filed a counter-affidavit to a Motion by the defeated candidate and PDP, seeking to subpoena 13 voters who have always been available to the petitioners as willing witnesses.

The Motion is expected to be heard today by the Tribunal.

In the request tabled before the Tribunal on July 19, Isa and PDP asked for an order “granting the petitioners/applicants leave to file and move this application outside of the Pre-hearing Session in this Petition”.

The Governor would have none of the request and his legal team, led by Duro Adeyele, is asking that the application should be rejected.