The Osun state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Thursday had to adjourn until Saturday as counsels for petitioners and defendants quibbled over the state of the documents presented to the tribunal by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which had been made available to the commission ahead of the 2018 guber election by Governor Ademola Adeleke.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned the eight-page document presented by Joan Arabs, a Deputy Director at the commission, included Certified True Copies of the testimonial obtained by Adeleke from Ede Muslim Grammar School, and the West Africa Examination Council General Certificate of Education.
The tribunal had last week Friday ruled that INEC chairman should make the documents submitted by Adeleke ahead of the 2018 guber election available on Thursday.
After assessing the documents presented by INEC, one of the counsels for the petitioners, Lateef Fagbemi had told the tribunal that two out of the eight pages were illegible due to faded print.
Fagbemi said the section for the scores obtained by the candidate on the GCE result was blank, adding that the address of the school that awarded the testimonial was also unreadable.
Counsel for INEC, Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN, however said the copies were readable, urging the plaintiffs to allow the documents to be admitted, since they had earlier claimed to have the CTC copies of the documents which could be presented.
He promised not to object to the documents if presented by the plaintiffs.
Counsels for Adeleke and Peoples Democratic Party, Onyeachi Ikpeazu, SAN and Dr. Alex Izinyon, SAN, respectively said the documents were readable but however agreed that some sections were blurry.
They added that remedial steps could be taken in respect of the documents and urged the petitioners to call their next witness, while INEC should be made to present copies that are readable if they have such.
Ananaba later sought for permission to obtain screenshots of the documents from the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
After the tribunal had reconvened, he presented both the colour and black and white copies made from the screenshots obtained from the head office of INEC which he also admitted were not better than the ones earlier presented.
He later sought for adjournment to enable INEC bring before the tribunal the certified copies made available to INEC.
Fagbemi, however, insisted that the order of the court was that documents that are readable should be presented, noting that the respondents must comply with this directive.
The Tribunal Chairman, Justice Tertse Kume, later adjourned the matter until Saturday to allow INEC make the certified copies available- Team@orientactualmags.com
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