By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday in Calabar, closed it’s case in the ongoing petition against the election of Senator Basset Otu as the governor of Cross River State, before the Cross River State Elections Petitions Tribunal.
The commission, which opened it’s case yesterday, also got the case closed after calling its head of operations, Agwu Kenneth, as it’s sole witness.
Agwu, who was introduced to the election tribunal panel by the commission’s counsel, K.O. Balogun, informed the panel that he was at the centre of the elections.
Agwu adopted his written statement on oath which was earlier deposed to on the 30th of April, 2023 and also adopted same as his evidence before the tribunal.
During cross examination, spearheaded by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, counsel, Dr. Jonah Musa, SAN, Agwu averred that he thought it wise to inform the panel that the information supplied in Form EC9 formed the basis for which the commission stated that the second and third respondent are qualified to stand for the election.
He informed the election petition tribunal that he did not verify if the third respondent was granted a waiver from getting citizenship in the UK because the information he supplied was under oath.
Under cross examination from the All Progressives Congress, APC, counsel, Essien H. Andrew, SAN, he stressed that INEC published the list of candidates for the elections as stated in the Electoral Act and at that stage anyone who had reasons to object was entitled to go to court.
He stressed that INEC is not aware of any judgment stating that any of the documents submitted by the second and third respondents are not authentic.
Also, the head of operations told the election petition tribunal that the second and third defendants won the election free, fair and square and that there is no circumstance which affects the result.
In his remarks, head of the tribunal, Justice Oken Inneh, adjourned till Tuesday, 18th July, 2023, for the second and third respondents to open their defence.
Speaking after the court proceedings, the PDP counsel, Dr. Musa, SAN, averred that INEC called their sole witness and closed it’s case
He said, “The witness came to testify and then we confronted him with the form EC9 of the governor and he admitted that there were discrepancies on the oath he swore and the certificates they tendered.”
Similarly, counsel to the second and third respondents, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, stressed that the petition is dead on arrival as the petitioners are re-litigating a matter they had lost.
While giving an insight into the alleged discrepancies, Ozekhome said, “There are no discrepancies in the dates and in any case if there are, the Electoral Act gave the opportunity to anyone who felt documents submitted to INEC were not clean documents to go to court and that would have been a pre-election matter, not an election petition.”
Ozekhome maintained that the so called discrepancies is the difference between the year of entry and the graduation year.
The petition, which was numbered EPT/CR/GOV/02/2023, was instituted by the PDP candidate, Professor Sandy Onor, asking the tribunal to disqualify the winners of the elections as he wasn’t qualified to stand for the elections as at the time he contested the polls.
