The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa state, has adjourned its next sitting to Tuesday, 25th -29th July 2023.
The tribunal will continue to hear the case brought by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its Governorship candidate, His Excellency Rt. Hon. David Emmanuel Ombugadu (PhD), is challenging the declaration of Alhaji Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 18th Governorship election in Nasarawa state.
During the recent three-day stretch of hearings, the tribunal admitted documents from subpoenaed witnesses. The witnesses produced various documents, including BVAS Reports, IRev CTC Printouts of Form EC8A, receipts of payment, and satisfaction pages.
The petitioner is relying on these documents to support their claims of irregularities, mutilation, and inflation of election results in certain polling units and electoral wards across the state.
The admissibility of the subpoenaed witnesses and the documents they presented faced objections from the respondents’ counsel, who reserved their arguments for the address stage. The respondent’s objections and the petitioner’s responses will be addressed at an appropriate time.
During cross-examinations, the subpoenaed witness, who is a Deputy Director of Information/Communication Technology (ICT) at the INEC National Headquarters in Abuja, clarified their role in the election process.
The witness confirmed their presence at the INEC National Control Room during the March 18th, 2023 Guber Election, where they supervised and monitored the real-time transmission of Form EC8A to the INEC IRev Portal/server.
The witness, who trained the trainees on the use of BVAS Machines and generated reports from the INEC IRev server, clarified that the presiding officers were responsible for transmitting Form EC8A to the INEC IRev server. They further confirmed that a significant majority of the Polling Units’ results (99.67%) were uploaded to the INEC IRev Portal.
The witness also clarified that BVAS Machines could transmit Form EC8A to the INEC IRev server online or offline as required.
They confirmed their familiarity with the electoral guidelines, manuals, and the 2022 Act as Amended and stated that the election was conducted substantially in compliance with the guidelines.
The witness acknowledged that the petitioner had obtained certified true copies of the documents presented in court and confirmed that these documents were not different from the previously available ones, as the IRev server is a public document viewing portal.
Following the cross-examinations, the Petitioner’s counsel requested the discharge of the witness from the box.
Additionally, they requested that Form EC8A code 011 of Ashige Ward, Lafia LGA, which was tendered on 24th June 2023, be numbered for clarity.
The council also asked for the BVAS Machines mentioned in previous proceedings to be brought by the Nasarawa State INEC subpoena witness on the next adjourned date to facilitate a quicker dispensation of justice.
The chairman of the three-man Governorship Election Petition Panel, Ezekiel Ajayi, graciously adjourned the Tribunal sitting to 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th July 2023 for the continuation of the hearing.
