Election Petition Tribunal: Counsels Argue Over Kwara Governor-Elect’s Certificate

Counsels to Kwara state governor-elect and the PDP governorship
candidate in the 2019 general elections continued their argument
over the authenticity of the WAEC certificate presented to the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the
governor-elect for the election.

At the continuation of pre-hearing trial of the election
petition tribunal in Ilorin on Thursday, Salman Jawondo, counsel to
the second respondent, who is the governor-elect, Alhaji
Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, had tendered photocopy of WAEC certificate
of another person to the tribunal to show that names or initials of
candidates can be abbreviated.

However, counsel to the PDP governorship candidate and the PDP
in the state, Kingsley Odeh, argued that West African Examination
Council (WAEC) does not abbreviate surname, even if it were to
abbreviate first names.

Odeh, who identified “conflict” in the documents tendered by
Jawondo, said that the governor-elect submitted a WAEC certificate
with Razaq A.P in 2019 general elections and a document which reads
Razaq A.R. in 2014 general elections.

“That’s the conflict”, he said, adding that the photocopy of
WAEC certificate tendered by Jawondo was General Education
certificate of WAEC and not that of the Senior Secondary School
Examination certificate of WAEC.

Speaking with journalists after the tribunal sitting on
Thursday, counsel to the INEC, Rowland Otaru SAN, said that
petitioner got it wrong to put initials of the governor-elect as
A.P.

“What the petitioners were saying in their pleadings is that
Abdulrazaq A.P., but initials of the governor-elect is not even
A.P. It is A.R. So, even from the body of their petition, they are
even wrong. We now want to show that the certificate of the
governor-elect is genuine, valid and issued by WAEC. With due
respect, they are just playing to the gallery. The photocopy
brought was to show the court that it’s not wrong for names of
candidates to have initials. The court then asked for the original
of the certificate to be brought in order to compare it with the
photocopy tendered. And so be it”, he said.

Otaru, who said that he did not give consent to declaration of
results documents presented by the petitioner on Thursday, said
that the onus was on them to prove. “In the fullness of time, we
are going to canvass very strong argument in respect of documents
which they seemed to tender”, he said.

However, counsel to the PDP governorship candidate and the PDP
in the state, Kingsley Odeh, said that it was actually the
governor-elect’s counsel that tendered bundle of evidence
containing second respondent’s certificate that was submitted
alongside other documents.

“The photocopy of certificate actually submitted for 2019
elections reads Razaq AP. Now, in their response, they have annexed
another document, a certificate he actually submitted in 2014
general elections. That document reads Razaq A.R. So, they’ve
actually aided our case. They’ve made everything simple. It shows
clearly that in 2019 they submitted a document with Razaq A.P. and
in 2014 they submitted a document which reads Razaq A.R. That’s the
conflict.

“For the purpose of clarity, WAEC does not abbreviate surname,
even if it were to abbreviate first names. Razaq A.P. and Razaq
A.R. can mean that any other person can claim the abbreviation. In
his age declaration that was attached to the documents like INEC
voters card, testimonial from secondary school in Kaduna, all those
documents bear his full names, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. There was
nowhere his name was abbreviated.

“On pleadings by INEC, which is a custodian of the documents
that were pleaded, the counsel does not even have them in court.
The INEC counsel was also objecting to his documents tendered by
the petitioner, which is a declaration of result. He refused to
give his consent to the documents. What they are hiding would be
revealed during trial, to show that the petitioner had made out
case for themselves. You cannot tender two contradictory documents.
That’s why in our second ground of petition we are saying that the
second respondent gave false information containing his affidavit
submitted to INEC in aid of his educational qualification”, he
said.

However, the tribunal has fixed Wednesday, May 22, 2019 for the
continuation of pre-hearing trial as well as enable INEC to produce
documents in its custody.

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