The PDP and its Ogun State governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections, Ladi Adebutu, appealed with the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Tuesday to allow them to present 8,000 exhibits as evidence against Governor Dapo Abiodun’s victory in the March 18 election.
Adebutu is disputing Abiodun’s win in the petition EPT/OG/GOV/03/2023, alleging that the Independent National Electoral Commission failed to comply with the terms of the Electoral Act 2022, among other things.
INEC, Abiodun, and the APC are the petition’s first, second, and third respondents.
Adebutu’s lead attorney, Goddy Uche (SAN), told the tribunal on Tuesday that the petitioners had come to deliver the papers in several “Ghana-must-go” bags before the tribunal sitting at the Magistrate court, Isabo, in Abeokuta.
Uche requested that the three-member panel include the materials as evidence against Abiodun.
He said the papers include INEC forms, BVAS reports, ECAs, voter registrations, and printed IRev results.
He asked the court to allow him to call witnesses before the trial began.
Adebutu’s attorney informed the tribunal that he had served a 98-page schedule of papers containing all the documents to be produced on all respondents.
However, INEC’s lawyer, Peter Olatunbora, objected to tendering the evidence. He claimed that the documents had only been served in court and that he needed time to analyze them.
Similarly, Abiodun’s attorney, Kehinde Ogunwunmiju, petitioned the court not to allow the documents as evidence, claiming that the petitioner did not follow the rules.
Ogunwunmiju requested that the court grant the respondents three days to analyze the materials.
Kunle Kalejaye (SAN), counsel for the APC, stated
“The application was served on us very late yesterday (Monday), and I’m just seeing it today. The petitioner should give us enough time to allow us go through the documents, instead of attempting to railroad the court into admitting them as evidence.”
In his judgement, the tribunal’s Chairman, Justice Hamidu Kunaza, ordered the petitioners two days to review the papers and delayed the case until Thursday, July 6.
cc: Punch Ng
