How We Rigged Edo Governorship Election For APC – INEC Tenders Damning Evidence

How We Rigged Edo Governorship
Election For APC – INEC Tenders
Damning Evidence

The Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, on Monday, tendered
evidence and closed its defence before
the Edo State Election Petitions Tribunal,
without calling a single witness.
The Tribunal, is sitting on a petition filed
by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
and its candidate in last year’s
September 28 Edo Governorship election,
Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
The petitioners are before the Tribunal,
challenging the electoral body’s
declaration of the candidate of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, Godwin
Obaseki, as winner of the poll.
They listed INEC in the substantive
petition as respondents.
When hearing on the matter resumed on
Monday, Counsel to INEC, Onyinye
Anumonye, tendered more than 200
copies of the ward results (Form EC 8 B )
for the remaining 17 Local Government
Areas, which were admitted in evidence
and marked as exhibits.
Anumonye’s prayer to also tender a
supplement to the 2015 guidelines and
regulation for the conduct of the election,
was however, objected to by Counsel to
the petitioners, Roland Otaru.
In his objection to the admissibility of
Anumonye’s document, Otaru argued that
the Counsel to INEC, ought to have
tendered the document through a witness
at the witness box.
However, the three-man panel Chairman
of the Tribunal, Justice Ahmed Badamasi,
admitted in evidence and marked the
certified true copy of the document as
exhibit 1 R 022 .
INEC had 10 days allotted to it by the
Tribunal to open its defence, and was
expected to have called up its witnesses
during its defence.
However, its Counsel said doing such was
tantamount to wasting the Tribunal’s
time.
Justifying this position, Anumonye
explained that since the first respondent
has so far reviewed the evidence
presented, that it is of the firm believe
that it had sufficiently established a
defence to the petition, through the cross
examination of the petitioners’ witnesses
whose statements under cross
examination confirmed its case, and
particularly, the documents tendered as
exhibits.
He said: “We therefore, consider it an
unnecessary waste of the Tribunal’s
precious time, to call witnesses who
would merely repeat evidences that it had
already elicited under
cross examination.”
Recall, that last year’s Edo Gubernatorial
election, was allegedly marred with
plethora of electoral offences, including
ballot box snatching, vote buying, and
Returning Officers giving conflicting
results, among others.