The Action Congress of Nigeria on Tuesday tendered materials used in the October 20, 2012 Ondo governorship election before the Election Petitions Tribunal in Akure, the state capital.
The ACN tendered copies of the voters’ register used for the poll and were admitted by the tribunal following the granting of the application moved by the party to bring in the report of the inspection carried out by Independent National Electoral Commission on electoral materials.
Counsel for the ACN, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, also moved an application for the submission of report of the inspection carried out on the INEC materials as ordered by the tribunal.
He said since the court had allowed the petitioner to carry out the inspection of the materials, it was under obligation to allow the report to be part of the documents to be relied upon for the execution of the petition.
He therefore urged the Justice Andovar Kaka’an-led three-member tribunal to grant the application.
But counsel to Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who is also the first respondent, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, asked the tribunal to dismiss the application as it did not show by way of affidavit extreme circumstances that could make the tribunal grant the application.
He observed that one of the people listed in the deposition, Adesina Fatai, was not one of those listed to give additional evidence.
He argued that what the ACN wanted to tender as additional evidence were documents that were in the possession of the petitioner before the tribunal granted the order for inspection of the materials used for the election.
Also, in his argument, counsel representing Labour Party, Mallam Yusuf Ali, SAN, urged the court to dismiss the application as it was “bereft of any substance.”
He noted that it was the proper time for the court to scrutinise the written deposition of the proposed witnesses to enable the tribunal determine whether they were within its order or not.
Ali also urged the tribunal to dismiss the application because the affidavit in support of the application lied against itself.
He said, “Where an affidavit tells a lie against itself, it must be rejected. Some of the people that swore to affidavit that they participated in the inspection did not participate as their names could not be found on the attendance list.”
Olujimi, in his reply, said the application was filed within the pre-trial period, therefore all authorities cited by the respondents were irrelevant.
He argued that the order of the court did not ask those who participated in the inspection to sign an attendance register.
The tribunal granted the application, but ruled that the respondents would be allowed to come up with their objection during the trial.
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