Ekiti election free, fair, INEC witnesses tell tribunal

A Deputy Director with the Independent National Electoral
Commission, Sylvester Aigbogun, on Tuesday told the Ekiti
Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in the FCT High
Court, Apo, that the July 14 governorship election in the state was
free and fair.

Aigbogun, who was the Electoral Officer for Ikole Local
Government Area of the state during the election, stated this while
testifying for the electoral body in the petition filed by the
Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the election, Prof.
Olusola Kolapo.

The petitioners dragged INEC, the All Progressives Congress and
Governor Kayode Fayemi, the winner of the election in contention,
as respondents before the tribunal.

The petitioners are challenging the declaration of Fayemi as the
winner of the election by the first respondents, INEC.

Aigbogun, while being cross examined by counsel for APC, Yomi
Aliyu, SAN, stated that his assertion that the election was free
and fair was based on what he saw while visiting some polling units
in the local government during the election, as well as what was
presented to him from various units and wards.

“The election was free and fair. This was based on what I saw
and what was presented to me.

“PDP and its candidate, Prof. Kolapo, did not make any complaint
to me on the conduct of the election in my local government.”

While answering question from R. O. Balogun (SAN), counsel for
Governor Fayemi, the witness stated that APC won in Ikole LGA
without any hitches, with a total of 14,522 votes, as against PDP’s
13,961.

He asserted that the election was conducted substantially in
line with the Electoral Act and the manual for the election issued
by INEC earlier tendered and admitted as Exhibit RA9.

The witness stated that he did not see any presiding officer or
other persons deliberately voiding ballot papers during his visit
to some polling units in the course of the election.

Aigbogun told the tribunal, under cross examination by the
counsel for the petitioners, Adebayo Adelodun SAN, that entries on
Form EC8A had to tally with those on the pink copy issued to agents
of parties at polling units.

According to him, wherever an alteration in the entries was not
initialed by either the presiding officers or collation officers,
there was no way he could know that such was an honest mistake.

Another witness, Akinyemi Shamsudeen, who was the Electoral
Officer for Ido-Osi LGA, informed that he did not receive any
complaints from the petitioners in his local government on the
conduct of the election.

He informed that the ad hoc staff deployed in the election were
trained to initial any mistakes made, adding that when they failed
to initial such mistakes and there was no complaint from anybody,
“I would take it as an honest mistake.”

Akinyemi stated that there was no report from PDP that there was
no compliance with procedural steps as contained in Exhibit
RA9.

While being cross examined by the petitioners’ counsel, the
witness stated that a void ballot could not be caused by deliberate
action, declaring that, “I am not familiar with the word ‘voided’
as far as our work is concerned.”

Dada Emmanuel, the Electoral Officer for Ilejemeje LGA, said
there was no protests from any agents of parties in the local
government, adding that none of the presiding officers who worked
under him reported any problems to him.

He also said that there was no complaint from the petitioners
about the conduct of the election in Ilejemeje LGA, declaring that
Exhibit RA8 tendered by INEC was the true result of the July 14
election from his local government.

Emmanuel, told the tribunal during cross examined by the
petitioners’ counsel that void ballot could be as a result of
deliberate action, though he said voided ballots were not
deliberately done by INEC officials.

Another witness, Kayode Bamidele, the Electoral Officer for
Ikere LGA, told the tribunal that there were no irregularities in
the election as complained by the petitioners.

He stated that he would be surprised “if anyone says INEC
officials deliberately voided ballot papers and thumb printed
ballot papers”.

Meanwhile, INEC, through its counsel, Charles Uwensuyi-Edosomwan
SAN, tendered in evidence the certified true copy of the
certificate of return it issued to Governor Fayemi after the
election.

While counsel for the other respondents did not oppose its
admissibility, Adelodun said the petitioners had issue with its
certification and would address it later.

The document was admitted by the tribunal and marked as Exhibit
RA10.

The chairman of the tribunal, Justice Suleiman Belgore, later
adjourned to Wednesday at the instance of the first respondent.

(NAN)

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