* Hurriedly applies for adjournment
The Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Uyo the
Akwa Ibom State capital heard evidence from Mr. Ikpong Joseph
Inyang, a Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO) for Obot Akara Local
Government Area.
Mr. Inyang testified as a subpoenaed witness for Governor Udom
Emmanuel and tendered unsigned lists containing names of Adhoc
staff who purportedly participated in the March 9, 2019
Governorship Election in the area. The lists were admitted in
evidence and marked as Exhibits RS 27 and RS 28 respectively.
In his oral testimony, Mr. Inyang claimed he had knowledge of
all that transpired on the day of the election and denied the
authenticity of the video earlier tendered by the Petitioners
through PW44 (William Nsikak Nkanta) and admitted in the course of
the proceedings. Mr. Nkanta testified as PW44 and served as
Presiding officer for Unit 005 in Ward 4 of Obot Akara Local
Government Area.
The said video which was beamed in open Court showed scenes of
massive thumb printing of ballot papers and scripting of election
results allegedly in the residence of Senator Chris Ekpenyong. PW44
said he recorded the video secretly out of fear for his life with
the use of his Android phone.
In a bid to contradict the evidence of PW44, Mr. Inyang said
PW44 was not the designated Presiding Officer (PO) for Unit 005 in
Ward 4, but rather a Youth Corp member by name Ifeyinwa Priscilla
Ifeanyi as contained in his unsigned list.
Under cross-examination by Jibrin S. Okutepa, SAN, Mr. Inyang
admitted that all Adhoc and permanent staff of INEC deployed for
the elections were administered with an Oath of neutrality to which
they appended their signatures.
He admitted that the signed Oath is in the custody of INEC – his
employers. He was, therefore, asked: “Can you tell this honourable
Tribunal whether Exhibits RS27 and RS28 purporting to be the list
of Adhoc staff deployed for the March 9, 2019 Governorship election
in Obot Akara and tendered by you is signed anywhere at all?”; “No,
My Lord”, was all he managed to mutter. From his unsigned list, he
read out the name of the PO whom he said signed the result sheet as
Ifeanyi Ifeyinwa P.
Mr. Inyang was further confronted with Voters registers for the
Local Government and asked if he would be surprised that the
registers were not ticked at all in the required boxes provided to
show accreditation.
To the consternation of all, he stated that the use of voters’
registers was not mandatory so long as the Smart Card Readers
(SCRs) were in use! Continuing, he said it was inconsequential if
the number of accredited voters captured on the SCR is different
from that indicated on the Voters’ register.
Obot Akara is the home of Senator Chris Ekpenyong, Senator
representing Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District at the
National Assembly.
The Petitioners have consistently maintained that the elections
of March 9, 2019, in Akwa Ibom State were unpardonably flawed as
they were characterized by massive rigging, vote-buying, violence,
and corrupt practices and therefore inconsistent with the Electoral
Act, 2010 (as amended) and the Guidelines for the Elections as
prescribed by INEC.
It is increasingly becoming clear that the votes purportedly
credited to Governor Udom Emmanuel were clearly arbitrarily
allocated without recourse to extant Electoral law, guidelines and
regulations.
In the face of startling revelations from witnesses fielded so
far, Counsel for Governor Udom Emmanuel abruptly called for an
adjournment of proceedings before noon.
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