The Peoples Democratic Party and its Ogun State governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections, Ladi Adebutu, on Tuesday, pleaded with the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to tender 8,000 documents as exhibits against the victory of Governor Dapo Abiodun in the March 18 election.
Adebutu, in the petition marked, EPT/OG/GOV/03/2023, is challenging Abiodun’s victory over allegation that the Independent National Electoral Commission failed to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, among others.
INEC, Abiodun and the APC are respectively the first, second, and third respondents in the petition.
At the Tuesday proceedings, Adebutu’s lead counsel, Goddy Uche (SAN), said the petitioners had come to present the documents in various “Ghana-must-go” bags before the tribunal sitting at the Magistrate court, Isabo, in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Uche prayed the three-man panel to admit the documents as evidence against Abiodun.
The documents, according to him, include INEC forms, BVAS reports, ECAs, voter registers, and printed IRev results.
He prayed the court to allow him to call his witnesses for the commencement of trial.
Adebutu’s counsel told the tribunal that he had served all the respondents a 98-page schedule of documents listing all the documents to be tendered.
But INEC’s counsel, Peter Olatunbora, opposed the tendering of the exhibits on the grounds that the documents were only served in court and he needed time to study them.
Similarly, counsel for Abiodun, Kehinde Ogunwunmiju (SAN), asked the court not to admit the documents as evidence, arguing that the petitioner did not follow the laid-down procedure.
Ogunwunmiju prayed the court to give the respondents three days to allow to study the documents.
Counsel for the APC, Kunle Kalejaye(SAN), said, “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 go through the documents, instead of attempting to railroad the court into admitting them as evidence.”
The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Hamidu Kunaza, in his ruling, gave the petitioners two days to inspect the documents and adjourned the case till Thursday, July 6.
