In a bid to contest the election victory of Prince Dapo Abiodun in the March 18 governorship election in Ogun State, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu, submitted a staggering 8,000 documents as exhibits before the Tribunal on Tuesday.
Adebutu, who had lodged a petition marked EPT/OG/GOV/03/2023, alleged that Abiodun’s re-election was marred by violations of the Electoral Act and several corrupt practices.
Leading the legal team of the petitioner, Goddy Uche SAN, urged the Tribunal to admit the extensive collection of documents as evidence against Abiodun. Uche informed the Tribunal that a 98-page schedule of documents had been served to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abiodun, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), who were the first, second, and third respondents.
The exhibits presented by Adebutu’s counsel included INEC forms, BVAS reports, forms ECAs, voters’ registers, and printed IREV results. Uche requested the court’s permission to call witnesses and proceed with the trial.
However, INEC’s counsel, Peter Olatunbora, urged the Court to reject the documents as exhibits, arguing that the petitioners should have provided the respondents with the documents prior to their presentation in court.
Abiodun’s counsel, Kehinde Ogunwunmiju (SAN), echoed the same sentiment and requested the court not to admit the documents as evidence, claiming that the petitioner failed to adhere to the proper procedure for presenting documents.
Ogunwunmiju further requested a three-day window for the respondents to inspect the documents before considering their admission as evidence.
Similarly, APC’s counsel, Kunle Kalejaye (SAN), accused the petitioner of attempting to manipulate the court into accepting the documents as evidence, expressing surprise at the late service of the application.
“The application was served on us very late yesterday (Monday), and I’m just seeing it today. The petitioner should give us enough time to allow us to go through the documents, instead of attempting to railroad the court into admitting them as evidence,” Kalejaye stated.
In his ruling, the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Hamidu Kunaza, granted the petitioners a two-day period to allow the respondents to thoroughly inspect the documents before they could be admitted as evidence.
The stage is now set for the next phase of the trial, as the respondents prepare to scrutinize the extensive array of documents presented by Adebutu’s legal team. The outcome of this case will determine the fate of the governorship election results in Ogun State.
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