Igbo Corner

Presidential Election Petition: Details of what transpired at Tribunal today, June 21

Published

2 years ago

June 21, 2023

Below are some details of what transpired at the Presidential Election Petition Court on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, as documented by “General” Oluchi via Twitter:

New boxes of evidence were brought to the courtroom this afternoon. I don’t think this is everything the LP team requested, but we will know more soon.

The judges are late as usual. They walked in at 2:35p.

A witness has been called to the box and AB Mahmoud is telling the judges that they just received the witness statement this afternoon and would need time to review it before interrogating the witness. He wants the interrogation rescheduled.

I don’t know why the lawyers enjoy going in circles every day in court. Each time a witness is called to the box, the respondents would argue that they haven’t read the witness statement yet, because they received it late. ANOTHER TIME-WASTING PROCESS.

The Judges have allowed the witness, Dr. Chibuike Ugwuoke to testify. He swore with the holy bible. He confirmed his house address in Abuja. He identified himself as a Cyber Security Expert and stated that he was subpoenaed to be in court.

The court is currently verifying his subpoena letter and so far, there are no objections from the respondents.

Ikwueto SAN began asking the witness some questions. The witness confirmed his Witness Statement and the lawyer tendered it as evidence but AB Mahmoud objected to the admission of the witness statement as evidence. The other respondents stated the same.

The lawyer asked him about paragraph 23, 24-25 of his Witness Statement, “you said you’ll provide a meta data for the polling units and the witness replied yes. The lawyer asked if these are the copies of the letter he’s referring to, the witness inspected and confirmed it. Ikwueto tendered the documents as evidence, but the respondents also objected saying they will give their reasons for objection in their final address.

After the judges verified the documents and admitted them as evidence, Ikwueto SAN stated that in paragraph 26 of the Witness Statement, there’s a copy of INEC’s press release in Nov 2022 alleging a plot to abandon online transmission signed by Festus Okoye, and INEC later clarified that press release to be false. The lawyer asked him if that document was attached to his WS, and he confirmed and showed it to the court. The lawyer tendered it as evidence and the respondents objected as usual.

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Ikechukwu Ezechukwu SAN will present the next witness.

The witness was called to the box, and he swore with the bible and introduced himself as Onoja Loko Sunday from Women Child Rescue Initiative. He was also invited to court with a Subpoena.

The witness was shown his WS and asked if he can recognize it, and he said yes. He was asked how he recognized it and he confirmed his signature on it. The lawyer asked if he would like the court to admit the WS and he said yes, but the respondents objected as usual.

Afterthe witness’ copy of ID was admitted as evidence, AB Mahmoud (INEC) began questioning the witness. He asked the witness if INEC gave him the ID card he submitted to the court and the witness said no.

The lawyer asked if he played any role at the location he observed, but the witness said he only observed.

The lawyer asked him if voting and counting went well in the location he observed and he said yes.

The lawyer asked him about the form EC8A he mentioned in his WS, and if it was signed by a party agent and presiding officer and the witness said yes.

The lawyer asked him if his party won the election in the location, and he said he doesn’t have a party. He was asked if his candidate won and he asked the lawyer, “who is my candidate?”

He was asked if he handled the BVAS machine during the election and he said no. “From your observation, the PU official went to the collation center with form EC8A, right?” The witness said yes.

Tinubu’s lawyer also interrogated the witness. He asked if the subpoena was addressed to the witness or to his agency, and the witness said yes. He was asked if voting went smoothly at the PU and he said yes.

The lawyer asked if the Electoral Officials followed the guidelines in that PU and he said yes. The lawyer asked him if the EC8A was taken to the collation center after the votes were counted but the witness said it was supposed to be uploaded on Irev.

The lawyer asked him if he would be surprised to hear that the result of that PU was uploaded on Irev and the witness replied that he won’t be surprised.

APC’s lawyer did not have questions for the witness.

Another witness was called to the box, and he introduced himself as Kephas Iya then swore with the bible. He is a civil servant and was invited with a subpoena and he produced a copy of it to the lawyer.
The respondents did not object to that.

The lawyer asked him about his WS made on the 19th of June and he said yes, then confirmed the copy shown to him as the WS with his signature on it. The lawyer tendered the WS as evidence, but the respondents objected.

After the WS was admitted as evidence, AB Mahmoud (INEC) began interrogating the witness. He asked if he was properly trained as a Presiding Officer, and he said yes. The lawyer asked him how many units he supervised, and the witness said he supervised 24 units in one ward. The lawyer asked him how many units are in the ward in total and the witness said there are 24 units.

The lawyer asked how many wards are in his LGA and the witness said 10 wards. The lawyer asked how many LGA are there, and the witness confirmed there are 21 LGA in Adamawa state. The lawyer asked aside the issues he reported on paragraph 8 of his WS, were there other issues he encountered, and the witness said, yes except the transmission of the results.

The lawyer asked him if he did a good job and the witness said yes. The lawyer asked if all the results at the PU he observed were properly announced and the witness said yes. The lawyer asked him if the physical copies of the EC8A were taken to the Collation Center and the witness said yes. The witness was asked if it was his duty to handle the BVAS and the witness said no.

Tinubu’s lawyer also interrogated the witness. He began by asking if he was there to testify on behalf of INEC and the witness said no. The lawyer asked if the subpoena was addressed to him directly and the witness said yes. The lawyer said that’s because LP knows him directly that’s why he was served directly, but the witness corrected him saying he is an INEC Ad Hoc Staff not a party man.

He was asked who won the election in Adamawa and the witness said PDP. The lawyer asked if all presiding officers who worked under him at the units, he presided at complied as expected and he said yes. The lawyer asked if accreditation went smoothly with the BVAS in all the units he observed, and the witness said yes. The lawyer asked if he would be surprised to know that all results of the 24 PU he observed were uploaded in Irev, and the witness said he won’t be surprised but based on his knowledge, they were not able to upload the results on that day.

APC’s lawyer began by telling the witness that his type is needed during election because he did a good job. The lawyer asked him if the supervisory officers were allowed to move around during the election, but the witness said that the Polling agents and presiding officers were able to move around.

The lawyer asked him if only the supervisory agents of INEC could move around, and he witness replied Yes “and some people wearing the Call to duty tags.” The lawyer asked him the same for the LGA collation Party agents and the witness replied that the LGA collation have their own party agents.

After the short break, the LP legal team began tendering a list containing the total number of registered voters and PVC collected by voters for 32 states all certified by INEC, as evidence. The respondents objected as usual, but the judges accepted the documents.

The LP lawyers also tendered Certified Copies of Certificate of Compliance in Edo State and the respondents objected to it as well. The lawyers verified the documents and were accepted.

The LP lawyer also tendered Certified True Copies of Supplementary IREV documents for Benue State. The respondents objected but the judges admitted them.

The LP lawyer tendered Supplementary IREV reports for 2 LGA in Cross River State. The respondents objected but the judges accepted them.

The LP lawyer also tendered IRev reports for 12 LGA in Lagos state. The respondents objected as usual, but the judges accepted them.

LP lawyers tendered Certified True Copies of IRev reports for 1 LGA in Gombe state. The respondents objected but the judges accepted them. An adjournment was requested and approved. Court is adjourned until 2pm tomorrow.

Additional comments by Oluchi:

Tinubu is packing his bags already. He knows his days in Aso Rock are numbered so he will take all he can, even the toilet roll in the guest bathroom.

I am glad that all this is happening at this moment so he can piss off more Nigerians like never before and no one will tell them how to react next.

Festus Keyamo updated his Twitter bio few nights ago when everyone was asleep thinking we won’t know that a couple of thinks have ended for him, and he’s been keeping calm online lately.

The first batch of BATidiots have been swept to the side as usual. I’ll wait for the second batch to accumulate so I can dump them there as well.

Win, win, win, we go dey win, win, win! If them no like na dem know Obidients, we are winning! We are smashing it. Just come back to this tweet in 2 weeks make I give you the main gist. I no dey follow nonsense rubbish movement!! If I no be Obidient, Wetin I suppose be?

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