Osun State Election Petition Tribunal hearing the suit filed by Governor Adegboyega Oyetola has admitted the documentary evidence presented by the governor’s legal team through which he seeks to prove that the declaration of former senator Ademola Adeleke as Governor-elect was wrong.
Among the documents admitted in evidence were the INEC Regulation and Guideline for the election, INEC Manual for Electoral Officials, Forms EC8As which are election results for Osogbo, Ede North and Ede South local governments, among others.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned Counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Paul Ananaba (SAN), had also declined consent to the documents issued as Certified True Copies (CTC) by the Commission.
At the hearing of the tribunal on Tuesday, counsel for Oyetola, Chief Lateef Fagbemi,(SAN), informed the tribunal that the documentary evidence sought to be tendered had been cross-checked by the respondents and that they all agreed that it should be tendered from the bar.
He then sought to tender the documents as listed on the schedule already submitted to the tribunal, which include the regulations and guidelines issued by INEC for the election.
INEC’s counsel, Ananaba, subsequently raised an objection to all the documents which had already been certified by the Commission.
Surprised by the objection, one of the judges queried: ‘You are raising objection even to your regulations?
Ananaba, in response, insisted on objecting to all the documents as listed in the schedule and hinted that he would give reasons for his objection in the final written address.
Counsel for Adeleke, Onyeachi Ikpeazu (SAN), and the PDP, Alex Izinyon (SAN), also objected to the admissibility of the evidence and noted that they would give reasons in their final addresses.
Responding to their objections, Fagbemi sought to tender another evidence which contained the ‘Schedule of the Documents’ to be tendered, but Ananaba again objected on the grounds that it was never pleaded.
Surprised again, the tribunal Chairman, Justice Tertsea Kume, queried the INEC counsel and referred to his record where the counsel informed the court that he had cross-checked the schedule of documents and had no objection.
It was on the basis of this that the INEC counsel withdrew his objection, while counsel for Adeleke and PDP also raised no objection to the tendering of the documents.
In his ruling, the tribunal admitted in evidence all the documents tendered and marked them as exhibits.
After the ruling, the petitioners’ counsel informed the tribunal that the tendering of other documents would be continued on tomorrow, Wednesday, as the list of the documents to be tendered in the next sitting had been given to the respondents’ counsel to cross-check.
The tribunal then adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, for continuation of hearing- Team@orientactualmags.com
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