By Our Reporter
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate in the September 21, 2024 election, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, have presented more documents to the three-member election petition tribunal led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi.
Over the weekend, the PDP and Ighodalo submitted more than 1,000 documents as part of their case.
Ken Mozia, SAN, counsel for the petitioners, submitted 55 Certified True Copies (CTCs) of voter registers from polling units, 56 CTCs of accreditation figures from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and 72 CTCs of extracts from the BVAS accreditation figures.
Mozia also presented 75 CTCs of INEC’s results viewing, which included form EC8A, and 70 CTCs of INEC’s polling unit booklets containing form EC25B. Additionally, 66 copies of polling unit voter registers and 125 CTCs of form EC8A from the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IREV) were tendered.
The petitioners’ counsel also submitted CTCs of certificates of compliance with the BVAS report for 133 polling units previously tendered as exhibits, as well as CTCs of serial numbers of BVAS devices deployed in those units.
In response, the respondents’ legal team, which includes Abdullahi Aliyu, SAN, Offiong Offiong, SAN, and Chief Ferdinand Orbih, SAN, representing INEC, Governor Monday Okpebholo, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), respectively, raised objections regarding the admissibility of the petitioners’ documents. They indicated they would present their reasons during the address stage of the proceedings.
The PDP is among seven of the 18 political parties that participated in the election and filed petitions at the tribunal. Other parties include the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Accord Party (A), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), and Action Alliance (AA).