The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in
Abuja, has admitted in evidence, additional video evidence that was tendered by
candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi.
The video recording, which was played in the open court on
Friday, after it was admitted as an exhibit, was brought on the strength of a
subpoena that the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel issued on
Africa Independent Television, AIT.
It was tendered in a flash drive, through the anchor of the
Democracy Today program on AIT, Ijeoma Osamor.
In the video, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, during a press conference, assured that
results of the 2023 general elections would be electronically transmitted,
using Bimodal Voter Accreditation, BVAS, devices.
Meanwhile, after the video recording was admitted in
evidence, the court, gave the lawyers that represented INEC, President Bola
Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, who are Respondents in the
matter, the nod to cross examine the witness.
Under cross examination, Osamor, told the court that
contrary to positions of both President Tinubu and the APC, the INEC Chairman
did not at any time before the elections, declared that the results would no
longer be uploaded.
However, counsel for the APC, Mr. Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN,
insisted that there was a newspaper publication to back the claim of the party
that the INEC Chairman had before the elections, adduced reasons why the
Commission could not transmit the results.
However, the witness, told the court that as a reporter
covering the INEC beat, she attended all press briefings by the Commission and
never heard such announcement by Prof. Yakubu.
She told the court that the said publication that President
Tinubu and the APC relied on, which was dated February 23, was probably a personal
interview between the INEC Chairman and Tribune Newspaper.
Meanwhile, all the Respondents challenged the admissibility
of the video recording from AIT in evidence, saying they would adduce reasons
behind their objections in their final written address.
Earlier in the proceedings, a Professor of Mathematics at
the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Eric Ofoedu, told the court
that he analysed some of the results of the presidential election that INEC
uploaded on its IReV portal.
Under cross examination, Prof. Ofoedu told the court that he
embarked on the analysis, as an academic exercise that would benefit his
students.
He told the court that he was not paid for the job, adding
that he had to be subpoenaed to tender the outcome of his analysis in evidence,
since his original aim was not to use the report for any election litigation.
Nevertheless, the witness, maintained his ground that over
18,088 result sheets that INEC uploaded in relation to the presidential
contest, were blurred.
The court adjourned further hearing on the matter till
Monday.
Obi, who is claiming that he won the presidential election,
is among other things, praying the court to nullify Tinubu’s victory and
withdraw the Certificate of Return that was issued to him by INEC.
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