Tribunal rejects Oni’s witness’ documents

The Ekiti State Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Ado-Ekiti yesterday rejected two documents a witness sought to tender in favour of Governor Segun Oni.

It was at the resumed hearing of the petition filed by Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate Dr. Kayode Fayemi against Oni’s declaration as winner of the April 25 governorship rerun election.

Omodan Afolabi sought to tender as exhibits his AC membership card and tag as party agent during the election.

Afolabi, who claimed to have acted as a party agent for AC at Ipoti Ward B, Ijero Local Government Area of the state, urged the tribunal to admit the documents - his party membership card and party agent tag - as exhibits.

The ruling, which threw out the two documents, was delivered shortly before the continuation of Oni’s defence of his election.

Fayemi is challenging the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in six wards of Ipoti A, Ipoti B in Ijero Local Government Area and Ifaki I, Ifaki II, Orin/Ora and Usi in Ido/Osi Local Government Area.

The Tribunal Chairman, Justice Hamma Barka, had in a short ruling after counsel announced their appearances, rejected the two documents.

He said they were not pleaded.

Justice Barka upheld the objection of the counsel to the petitioners.

He said the provisions of the Tribunal Practice Direction are clear on which document to admit or reject.

He said the party membership card and agent tag failed to pass the test of admissibility as enshrined in Paragraph 4 (1) of the Practice Direction.

Making allusion to the position of counsel to the respondents that the tags of some election observers brought to the court by the petitioners were admitted as exhibits, Justice Barka held that the circumstances leading to the admission of the observers’ tags were clearly different from the documents at issue.

Stressing that documents are not admitted at will but in accordance with the law, the tribunal chief urged counsel to parties to assist the tribunal while leading their witnesses in evidence.

He warned them not to mislead the tribunal while canvassing a position.

"Such evidence are inadmissible and they are subsequently rejected and should be marked rejected," Justice Barka said.

Shortly after the ruling was delivered, Afolabi was cross-examined by PDP counsel Joe Gadzama (SAN).

The witness, who deposed in his statement on oath that he acted as an agent at Unit 005 in Ipoti Ward A, told the tribunal that all AC agents at the poll wore red T-shirts.

Under cross-examination from counsel to INEC and Resident Electoral Commissioner (3rd and 4th respondents), Rafiu Lawal-Rabana (SAN), he said nobody disrupted the election and that there was no stuffing or theft of ballot boxes whatsoever in his unit.

While being cross-examined by counsel to the Returning Officer for Ijero Local Government Area, Nathaniel Oke (SAN), Afolabi said the PDP won Unit 005 in Ipoti Ward A where he claimed to have served as agent.

The courtroom was treated to some drama when the witness was grilled by counsel to the petitioners, Mr. Anthony Adeniyi.

He (the witness) told the tribunal that he was 35 years old.

But, when he was confronted with Exhibit 31(5), which was the Voters’ Register for the unit where he registered as a voter showing that he was 35 years old as at 2007, Afolabi said as a farmer, he gave what he believed to be his age to the officials.

The witness, who was Respondent Witness 5 (RW 5), told the tribunal that he did not know when he was registered as a voter.

He said he registered and voted at Unit 006 in Okeya-Afin CAC Primary School but acted as agent at Unit 005 in Surajudeen Primary School, Okesokun.

Afolabi said he could not tell how long it would take to cover the two units where he acted as agent and voted.

He admitted knowing Navy Captain Omoniyi Olubolade (rtd), an Ipoti indigene, who defected from the AC to the PDP but claimed that he did not meet him in the party when he (Afolabi) joined it in 2007.

When asked whether he stands by his claim in his deposition that he is an artisan, Afolabi said: "An artisan is not a farmer".

He said those who registered him as a voter assumed he was an artisan.

Next to give evidence was DW 6, Ahmed Jimoh, who caused a stir before the tribunal by removing the cloth he wore to reveal the red shirt he had on him on the election day, which, he said, was to identify AC agents.

Being cross-examined by Obafemi Adewale, who took over from Gadzama, Jimoh said the red T-shirt was given to all AC polling agents at Fayemi’s residence in Isan-Ekiti where, according to him, they had undergone tutelage as party agents.

The witness, who is also a farmer, said their slogan on the day of election was "Rig and Roast" but recanted when he was cross-examined by Adeniyi.

Initially, Jimoh refused to answer Adeniyi’s question that there was nowhere in the red shirt where the name of the party or its logo or symbol was inscribed. He agreed after Justice Barka noted that there was nothing on the T-shirt to show that it belongs to the AC.

When given Exhibit 41 (official result sheet) which indicated that only 245 ballot papers were used in his unit whereas 241 were marked as accredited, Jimoh said INEC should be blamed for the discrepancy.

Dare Fagbohun, a student, told the tribunal that he was not sure whether all who registered at Unit 006 in Ipoti Ward B, where he reportedly acted as agent, voted.

The witness, who also removed his cloth to show the red T-shirt he claimed to have worn on election day, agreed with Adeniyi that the T-shirt could have been bought in any market but said it was specifically given to them for the election.

Fagbohun, RW 7, was asked to sign his specimen signature twice on a clean sheet of paper.

Adeniyi told him that he was not the one who signed his witness statement on oath.

The two signatures were admitted as Exhibit 53.

He also admitted when shown Exhibit 52, the official result sheet for his unit that 151 ballot papers were used but only 144 voters were accredited as confirmed by Exhibit 31 (13), the unit’s Voters’ Register.

"I cannot say whether all those who voted at my unit were accredited. What happened at the unit was quite possible because I was not the one that marked the register," Fagbohun said.

He told the tribunal that he was polling agent in Unit 006 but cast his vote at unit 007.

The witness said when he left the unit where he acted as an agent, an AC councillorship aspirant held the fort for him.

Fagbohun told the tribunal that his witness statement on oath was written for him.

He said did not know the person who wrote it for him.

When asked if he stood by his deposition in the document that he did not leave the unit where he acted as an agent throughout the period of the election, Fagbohun answered in the affirmative. Adedeji Adeyemo, RW 8, counted the votes recorded on Form EC8A which he tendered but it did not correspond with the figure recorded on Form EC8A.

The figure that was recorded as having voted was at variance with the number of accredited voters in the voters’ register.

There were many discrepancies in the Form EC8A tendered as exhibit.

More witnesses are expected to give evidence today.