Below are some details of what transpired at the Presidential Election Petition Court on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, as documented by Oluchi via her Twitter handle, @General_Oluchi:
Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, counsel for Labour Party (LP) informed the judges that they successfully served INEC a subpoena and they sent someone to the court. Then a woman by the name Ronkeji Olufumilayo Tairu from INEC said she’s here to represent Mahmoud Yakubu and to present some requested documents.
The subpona was issued on May 30th and June 13th, 2023.
Dr. Livy asked her when we are going to have all the documents they requested, and she said it will be ready before the end of next week. He asked when she will bring them, and she replied as soon as possible.
Dr. Livy said angrily, “not as soon as possible!”
AB Mahmoud said Dr. Livy is pressuring the woman and Dr. Livy replied that he doesn’t want what happened yesterday to repeat itself.
Dr. Livy asked the woman from INEC office if they brought the documents for Abuja and nearby states, and the woman replied that they brought the ones in Abuja, but it hasn’t been paid for.
Dr. Livy asked her what she meant by that. “If you bring all the documents today, we pay you today. Bring it and we will pay right away.”
Dr. Livy told the judges that they sent lawyers to all INEC offices in every state, but the judge replied that there’s a difference between sending lawyers and sending with the application, and Dr. Livy assured the judge that those lawyers were sent with the applications.
Tinubu’s lawyer also interrogated the witness.
He first pointed out that her employment letter doesn’t have an author name and she replied that the name of the author is Employee Resource Center printed boldly on it.
The lawyer asked if that is a person, but the witness replied that it’s a department that handles employment verification.
The lawyer pointed out that the letter is not signed but the witness again, clarified that it was signed by the organization that issued it.
“This is the verification letter given to all employees within Amazon,” she replied.
The lawyer asked why she didn’t attach her ID but the witness replied that AWS doesn’t issue ID cards.
The lawyer asked for her appointment letter, and she clarified that the appointment verification letter states her appointment date. The lawyer dived into asking if she has a Twitter handle and she replied Yes.
The lawyer read out her Twitter handle and she confirmed it. The lawyer suggested that she downloaded the report from AWS site and the witness replied that the reports are public information posted by AWS.
The lawyer said the reports are not her product, but the witness said they are hers because she brought it.
The lawyer asked her if she contested for HOR with Labour Party and she replied yes. The lawyer asked how she felt about that, and she said she was indifferent.
The lawyer aske if she won the primaries and she said yes. The lawyer said she sued INEC because INEC didn’t put her name on the list of candidates, and she said that’s correct.
The lawyer asked her if she agrees that the network failure was a glitch on the INEC site on the election day, and she said, “I disagree.”
Lawyer: “Are you aware that in 2017 the AWS S3 cloud service experienced an out time on Tuesday 28 February 2017.”
W: “I was aware.”
The lawyer asked if she’s aware that LP won the presidential election in 12 states & the FCT and she replied that she’s here as an expert witness. “I can’t speak to the matter that is in court,” she replied.
The lawyer said to the witness that when information on the result is uploaded, it is only the image that is transferred, but the witness replied, “You could upload anything, I cannot speak to what was transmitted.”
The lawyer asked her who won the election in Cross River state, her state of origin, and she said she doesn’t know who won. The lawyer asked her who the president of the US is, and she replied it’s Joe Biden. The lawyer asked who he contested against, and she replied that she isn’t here as an election expert.
Now the judges are ganging up on Livy Uzoukwu saying he didn’t write them to say INEC didn’t release the documents they requested for. They said there’s a penalty for whoever refused to release documents but that the Petitioners haven’t filed a formal application to them.
They are not calling out INEC but asking Livy to prove that they formally requested for certain documents instead of accusing INEC.
Livy: The same INEC gave us some of the documents we tendered by also refused to tender these ones we are asking for!
Judge: There’s penalty attached to whoever refused. If they are refusing, then apply the penalty clause!
Livy: On the 15th of March, we wrote all of them drawing attention to what the INEC chairman said so they began sending us some documents, but they refused to give us the forms. The INEC Chairman also told them to only release the documents he authorized.
Judge: You didn’t show the relevant applications to show that you’ve requested for these document.
You can tell the judges are getting combative and impatient. Every time Dr. Livy says something or asks for something, they shout him down. Ask other court visitors and they’ll tell you the same. Something changed this week with these judges and I don’t like it. Pure gaslighting!
INEC’s Director of ICT Lawrence Bayode is here as a witness.
He brought 2 out of 5 documents demanded from his department. He mentioned something about section 158 and 160 of the constitution as a reason why he doesn’t have to provide those documents.
Dr. Livy: Can we get copies of those documents and review them before accepting them as evidence?
AB Mahmoud: the documents have been produced if they don’t want to use them again, they should let the court know.
Judge: that’s what I want to know.
Dr. Livy: We must know the content of the documents first before we can decide. We have a choice to tender them as evidence.
APC lawyer: if it is the document you requested for, you have no choice than to tender them to court as evidence and the time to do that is now.
Dr. Livy: My lord, we are not saying we won’t tender them.
Judge: There’s an agreement that the documents supplied should be tendered from the bar as a witness.
Dr. Livy: I can’t tender them from the bar.
Judge: All the INEC representatives must do is present the documents, but it’s left for them to use it or not, and the INEC person has done that. So, he can go except he wants to enjoy the proceeding.
Dr. Livy: It’s left for my lord to decide a way forward.
Judge: The ball is in your court. It’s left for you to score the goal or dribble back and forth.
Dr. Livy: My lord, we request an adjournment to continue tomorrow.
Respondents: We don’t object.
Judge: Court adjourned to tomorrow at 2pm.
Yes, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu can file an application to punish INEC for not providing required documents, and he knows that, but let’s not lose sight of the issues here.
1. Dr. Uzoukwu has complained a million times that INEC is non-compliant, starting from the petition filed in March.
2. He stated it at the pre-hearing multiple times.
3. He brought it up last week and also yesterday.
At no point did the judges advise him to go ahead and file an application to punish INEC for not providing the requested documents. They shouted him down and asked him to “work together” with INEC’s lawyers.
After the incident of yesterday, seeing the online outrage, these judges suddenly realized what they should have known — that INEC will never provide those documents, so they are now pushing back at the LP legal team like it’s their fault that INEC is non-compliant. They are shifting the blame which is counterproductive here.
How is punishing INEC effective? Don’t they already know that punishment is better than providing those documents? This is what Mahmood Yakubu wants! Why are the judges playing into their hands?
This is how gaslighting works. First, they ignore the issues then make everything appear like it’s your fault, and have then have people focus on you instead of the problems.
Nigerians react
Karo Gizmo Jighere:
“The way the judges try to defend INEC inability to provide documents asked for by LP lawyers subtly is something else; the way the presiding judge is quick to shout at Dr Livy when he is angry is surprising. As if he is just getting angry for nothing.
“It is INEC that fails to provide documents but no shout at their lawyers but at the aggrieved lawyers. Something is not adding up. They better do well and not truncate justice.”
Joseph Felix:
“I think Livy deliberately didn’t file the application against Inec on purpose. It’s a strategic move to suffocate Inec and disbalance them.
“The Inec and Apc legal team are already feeling the heat. The pressure is increasing daily. All will become clearer before on Friday!” Read more.
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