Election Tribunal: Tinubu, INEC, APC Kick Over Atiku’s Tendered Documents

• Certified True Copies of Form EC8A from IReV in contention

As the fireworks resumed at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressive Congress (APC) have opposed the admission of documents tendered as evidence in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenging Tinubu’s victory at the February 25, 2023 polls.

Through his counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), the PDP candidate told the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) which resumed sitting in Abuja on Wednesday that the team had prepared a second schedule of documents to be tendered, explaining that the said documents were fully served on the parties involved.

Among the documents presented by the petitioners in evidence were Certified True Copies (CTC) of Form EC8A downloaded from the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV). These included those for eight Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Bayelsa State; 23 LGAs in Kaduna State; 20 in Ogun State; and 23 in Kogi State.

Also submitted by the petitioners was Form EC40G for Kaduna State. This is the form where INEC inputs the number of all polling units canceled or those where voters could not vote.

Furthermore, the Atiku’s legal team tendered the printout of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and accreditation data with details, including the timestamps for 33 states.

They prayed the court to deem the documents as read pursuant to provisions of paragraph 46(a) of the first schedule of the Electoral Act.

However, for Kogi State, the respondents, INEC, Tinubu, and APC objected to the admission of all the documents in most of the local governments, except Olamaboro, Ofu, Omala, Okehi, and Ajaokuta. Also, they declined their consent that the documents be deemed as read, having objected to their admissibility.

Having tendered the documents, the Chairman of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani, admitted them as evidence, and subsequently, the Tribunal adjourned the case to June 1, for the continuation of the hearing.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party (LP) could not continue with its case as the counsel, Awa Kalu (SAN) told the Tribunal that they had planned to call more witnesses and tender documents, but were constrained by some challenges, including the ill-health of two key staff members of its secretariat.

Explaining that the development has made it impossible for them to proceed for the day, the Counsel sought an adjournment to June 1, which the Tribunal granted.

As usual, the LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who has become a regular face at the proceedings, was joined by his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed at the Tribunal’s sitting on Wednesday. – With Channels TV Report