As the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal reconvenes tomorrow, July 4, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) petitioner, Ladi Adebutu, is prepared to call no less than 263 witnesses to testify in his case. Adebutu also plans to present over 60 different categories of documents to substantiate his claims of irregularities that marred the Ogun election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had previously declared Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 18 governorship election held across the 20 local governments of Ogun State. However, Adebutu, who came in second, rejected the result and filed a petition before the tribunal.
In his petition, Adebutu alleged that the election was marred by cases of over-voting, ballot box snatching, violence, manipulations, inflation of figures, noncompliance with electoral laws, and other malpractices. He also accused INEC of failing to adhere to the margin of lead principle, asserting that Abiodun’s victory was erroneous because the number of voters in areas where elections were cancelled exceeded the difference between the votes received by both candidates.
During the previous hearing, the tribunal adjourned, stipulating that it would resume on July 4 and 5, during which Adebutu would present unopposed documents and call his witnesses. It has now been revealed that Adebutu plans to call at least 263 witnesses to provide testimony supporting his claims.
According to the certified true copy of his petition obtained by Media Talk Africa, Adebutu has listed the witnesses who will testify in the case, although most of them are identified by codes to protect their identities.
The petition further stated that Adebutu himself will be the first witness, while others are listed with codes such as OGSC, AN1, AN2, AN3, AS4, AS5, AO6, AO7, IF9, IF10, SA95, OD98, VT99, and more. Adebutu also revealed his intention to have a forensic/fingerprint expert and a statistician testify, and to subpoena a witness from the Circuit and County Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, in the United States.
Furthermore, Adebutu indicated that INEC staff would be summoned to produce documents and testify. In his petition, he stated that all necessary and relevant documents would be relied upon, including BVAS CTC reports, BVAS machine physical inspection reports, IReV CTC reports, statisticians’ reports, and forensic/fingerprint experts’ reports. Additionally, all INEC-certified result sheets and electoral materials, as well as Form EC8 series, such as EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D, EC8D(A), and EC8E, and certificates of return received by the petitioners’ agents at the election, among others, will be presented.
Meanwhile, Dapo Abiodun’s counsel, Taiwo Osipitan, has challenged Adebutu to substantiate his allegations before the court, assuring that he and his team are fully ready to defend the governor. Responding to the allegations, Abiodun accused Adebutu of engaging in rampant vote buying and urged the court to dismiss the petition.
