Ladi Adebutu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate in Ogun State, has wrapped up his defense at the Election Petition Tribunal, having presented 94 witnesses to support his case on Friday.
The petitioner, in his bid to contest the alleged non-compliance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the Electoral Act, presented a trove of evidence consisting of more than 200,000 documents at the tribunal.
In his allegations, Adebutu contends that the March 18 governorship polls were marred by disruptions orchestrated by suspected political thugs in more than 99 polling units, leading to the exclusion of over 40,000 voters from the electoral process.
Adebutu substantiated his claims of disruptions in various polling units across the State by presenting voters and party agents hailing from Sagamu, Ikenne, Odogbolu, Remo North, Ogun Waterside, Ijebu-Ode, Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, Ado-Odo/Ota, and other local governments as witnesses.
The petitioner secured the attendance of key witnesses by issuing a subpoena to two INEC ad-hoc staff, a representative from the West African Examination Council (WAEC), a skilled statistician, and a knowledgeable forensic expert, who were called to testify before the tribunal.
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Adebutu’s submission of evidence left no stone unturn, as he provided certified true copies of INEC electoral materials, result sheets, voters registers, printouts from the Bimodal Voters Accreditation (BVAS) machines, incident forms, video evidence, forensic reports, and various other pieces of documentation.
Adebutu and the PDP announced the closure of their cases and are now awaiting the commencement of the respondents’ defense, which includes INEC, Abiodun, and the APC.
Speaking with journalist after the sitting, Counsel to the petitioners, Chris Uche, disclosed that, ‘We have called 94 witnesses on behalf of the petitioners and we have tendered over 200,000 INEC documents before the court as well as our own documents.’
Uche clarified that, having done all these, ‘we formerly ended the calling of witnesses on behalf of the petitioners. It is the turn of the respondents to start their response. They have asked for an adjournment to Wednesday, which has been granted to them.’
‘When we come on Wednesday, we’ll find out what their defence to all these various allegations in respect of which we’ve brought overwhelming evidence before the court is. And we are going to confront them with all these documents we have tendered if they call their witnesses.’
Meanwhile, INEC is expected to open its defence on Wednesday, being the first respondent in the petition.
INEC’s Counsel, Abiodun Owonikoko, during the pre-hearing session, told the tribunal that the electoral umpire would be calling just one witness