In the ongoing Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal, Ladi Adebutu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has announced his intention to call a fingerprint expert and a statistician as witnesses in the case. Adebutu, who filed the petition challenging the victory of Governor Abiodun in the March 18 governorship election, aims to prove that irregularities marred the election.
Adebutu plans to present a substantial number of witnesses, with a total of 263 individuals expected to testify in support of his claims. He also intends to submit over 60 different categories of documents to substantiate the allegations of over-voting, ballot box snatching, disruptions by violence, manipulations, inflation of figures, noncompliance with the electoral act, and other malpractices.
The PDP leader’s petition argues that INEC failed to adhere to the margin of lead principle, as the number of voters in areas where elections were canceled exceeded the difference between the votes scored by both candidates. To strengthen his case, Adebutu has listed a range of witnesses with codes to protect their identities, including a forensic/fingerprint expert, a statistician, and a subpoenaed witness from the Circuit and County Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, United States of America.
Furthermore, Adebutu plans to subpoena INEC staff to produce documents and testify in court. He has identified several crucial documents, including BVAS CTC reports, BVAS machine physical inspection reports, IReV CTC reports, statisticians’ reports, forensic/fingerprint experts’ reports, and all INEC-certified result sheets and electoral materials.
In response to the allegations, Governor Abiodun’s counsel, Taiwo Osipitan, has challenged Adebutu to provide evidence to support his claims and assured the court of their readiness to defend the governor. The governor, in turn, has accused Adebutu of engaging in extensive vote-buying and urged the court to dismiss the petition.
Source. Vanguard
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