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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) hurriedly closed its defence before the Kwara State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Thursday, a day after its sixth witness admitted that there were indeed rampant incidents of non-accreditation and non-compliance with the electoral guidelines in the April 26, 2011 poll.
The commission called only six of the over 80 witnesses it told the tribunal that it would to call to testify on its behalf.
The admission on Wednesday evening by Mutuah Joshua, the INEC Supervisory Officer (SPO) for Lafiagi Ward 3 in Edu Local Government Council Area, saw all the senior defence lawyers and Kwara State Attorney-General, Kamaldeen Ajibade, hurried out of the tribunal to hold a brief meeting, after which the INEC counsel, Olajide Ayodele (SAN), sought adjournment of the matter to Thursday to call more witnesses.
But when the tribunal resumed proceedings on Thursday morning, Ayodele told the tribunal, "it was the decision of my colleagues and I not to call any more witnesses and we have therefore decided to close our defence accordingly."
INEC is the fourth respondent in the petition the ACN's Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN) filed against the commission's declaration of PDP's Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed as winner of the governorship ballot in Kwara State.
Findings at the tribunal revealed that Ayodele's decision not to call more witnesses was due to intense pressure mounted on him from the Government House and counsel to Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed and the PDP, who reportedly accused him (Ayodele) of "calling witnesses that kept worsening our case."
The sources recalled that counsel to the first and second respondents (Ahmed and Peter Kishra) and the third respondent, the PDP, had warned their INEC colleagues not to call any witnesses at all in order not to "worsen the precarious state of our defence" , but that Ayodele insisted on calling as many witnesses as he deemed helpful for his defence.
Joshua, who claimed in his deposition that there were proper accreditation and lawful voting across Edu Local Government Council Area, backpedalled when confronted with the voters' register from the area, which showed no ticking whatsoever in the accreditation box.
ACN counsel, Osaro Eghobamien (SAN) had during cross-examination asked Joshua whether voting would be considered valid where there were no accreditations. Joshua retorted that accreditation is the only evidence that lawful voting had taken place.
Eghobiamen had also asked him to confirm to the tribunal whether the six boxes on the right hand side of the voters' register, especially the abbreviations Pre (Presidential), NASS (National Assembly), and GHA (Governorship/House of Assembly) provided in the voting columns meant anything.
Joshua admitted that the abbreviations and the boxes meant different elections, but denied knowing which elections the abbreviations or the boxes denoted. He also admitted that tick in each of the boxes meant separate elections, effectively, nailing the evidences of his colleagues who denied that the boxes and ticks in them meant different elections.
Out of the over 800 polling units the ACN is challenging, at least 400 units do not have evidence of accreditation, though votes were returned from there, while the other units were also marred by staggering degrees of inflation of results, discrepancies between entries on different electoral result sheets, misapplication of ballot papers, violence, disenfranchisement, and other irregularities.
The tribunal has now adjourned to October 27, when all the parties will adopt their written addresses.
Osun Defender