As the Ogun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, resumed proceedings on Monday, many were taken aback as only members of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, appeared as witnesses for the party.
Recall that the tribunal provisionally admitted undisputed documents presented by the PDP on Thursday, as their counsel informed the panel of their readiness to start calling witnesses as scheduled.
Meanwhile, among the PDP members who were called during cross examination was Ibuowo Ogunbowale, from Sabo, Sagamu, who was accused of disrupting electoral process after realizing that his party was loosing at his polling unit.
Ogunbowale, was cross examined by one of the counsel to the respondents, Mrs Folake Akinlawon, and agreed that he is a member of the PDP and a former aspirant on the platform of the party, though he denied his involvement in the crisis that rocked his polling unit.
Also, other witnesses, Ibuowo Ogunbowale and Adeleye Ayomide, both from Sagamu and also members of the PDP, were cross-examined by INEC and APC counsel respectively. The former affirmed that his lawyer gave him the witness paper and was not aware of the content, while the latter shockingly confessed that he didn’t agree with the provision of electoral law which stipulates that voters should quietly vacate poling units after voting.
None of them worked as party agent during the polls nor confirmed being molested in anyway during the exercise to establish a case of violence against their members as it was alleged by their party; even as another PDP witness, Kehinde Soboyejo, opted for cutlass as an object of oath-taking.
However, it was revealed after being cross examined by the INEC counsel that he registered in two polling units.
In another development, Adijat Ayodele, who was also called to testify in favour of PDP, admitted not to have read her witness statement before appending her signature.
In the same vein, Faisal Yusuf, from Ijoko Ifo, who also came to testify in favour of PDP told the tribunal that he had been a trader for the past 30 years. But contrary to his claim, his voter’s card, marked BT 591, read civil servant.
