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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has presented Form EC8A, EC8B and EC8C of various polling units, wards and Local Government Areas before the governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Kaduna on Tuesday.
The Forms spanning from Birnin-Gwari, Igabi, Kaduna North, Kubau, Lere, Sabon-Gari, Zaria and Kudan local government areas respectively.
The tribunal had earlier ordered the INEC to bring before the court the original copies of the said documents, including Form EC8D of the 23 Local Government Areas of the state, based on the application of the petitioners; People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Hon. Isa Ashiru.
In his arguments, the lead counsel to PDP and Ashiru, Oluwole Iyamu (SAN) was challenging the authenticity of the results from 11 polling units in Birnin-Gwari, 20 in Igabi, 4 in Kaduna North, 44 in Kaduna South, 12 in Kubau, 9 in Lere, 8 in Sabon-Gari, 4 in Zaria and 5 in Kudan Local Government Areas respectively.
During the court proceedings, Iyamu noted that some of the documents presented by the INEC were not original copies as requested.
Iyamu had also sought for court order to allow the original copies of the document remain in the custody of the court, pending the time witnesses are in the court. ” The idea was for some of these witnesses to identify some discrepancies between the original, the certified copies and the duplicates that were given at the time of the election,” he emphasised.
In his defence, the counsel to INEC, Abdullahi M. Aliyu argued that for the original documents to remain under the custody of court for more than 24 hours would amount to breach of law as provided by the electoral act.
The counsel to 1st (INEC), 2nd (Uba Sani) and 3rd (APC), in their submissions argued that since the documents requested to be presented at the court by the INEC is a public document, hence the need for all parties involved to have the certified copies of the documents before presenting it to the tribunal.
The counsels to the respondents also objected to the admissibility of some of the exhibits presented to the tribunal by PDP and Ashiru’s counsel in nine wards spanning from Giwa to Lere LGAs.
After considering the submissions by all the counsels, the 3-man panel headed byJustice Victor Oviawe adjourned till Wednesday, July 12, 2023 for the continuation of the case.
However, fielding questions from Reporters shortly after the court proceedings, the counsel to Governor Uba Sani, Chief Duro Adeyele said: “our ultimate prayer is that the petition be dismissed, and that is what we are here for.
“The reason for that is what we are going to present in our defence, and that is not for the press.”
