Clement Onwuenwunor, lead counsel to Abdulazeez Adediran,
has accused Olaolu Adekanbi, an official of the West African Examination
Council (WAEC), of compromising evidence in his testimony at the election
petition tribunal.
Adediran, also known as Jandor, who was the governorship
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last elections, is
calling for the disqualification of Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, over
a fake WAEC result.
He is also challenging the victory of Sanwo-Olu, candidate
of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on the ground of “non-compliance” with
the electoral act 2022 and the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC).
On Tuesday, Adekanbi was subpoenaed by the court to give
evidence on the controversy surrounding the qualification of Sanwo-Olu.
The witness had presented a document bearing a May/June
O’level result with the name of the governor issued in 1981 by Ijebu Ife
Community Grammar School.
Onwuenwunor accused Adekanbi of not being truthful in his
evidence.
He told the tribunal that the evidence presented by the
witness was different from an earlier finding after a search on WAEC’s online
result verification portal which allegedly did not show the governor’s name and
result.
He also applied for leave to cross-examine the witness to
challenge the accuracy of the evidence.
“There is a major conflict between what the witness has just
brought and what we earlier tendered which was also issued by WAEC,” he said.
“Our search before the polls had discovered that the
governor had no result on WAEC’s portal and now this witness is bringing
something different which contradicts their earlier position.
“He is not being a witness of truth. He has also refused to
give more evidence on what he presented and said the council does not produce
hard copies of certificates or retain duplicate certificates.”
In its ruling, the tribunal, headed by Arum Ashom, held that
the petitioner could not cross-examine the witness and that the exhibit
containing the findings from the portal could not be linked to WAEC directly.
However, the court
ordered the counsel to cross-examine the WAEC official.
During the cross-examination, the witness told the tribunal
that the governor was found to have been entitled to a certificate issued by
the school in question and that the online portal did not exist as of 1981.
“Since there was no portal in 1981, this master list of 581
candidates that sat for the exam at the school is the primary information that
will be fed into the result verification portal,” Adekanbi said.
“I think electronic
registration of candidates started in 2004.
“For migrating results, we have three portals and the
council does not retain duplicate copies of certificates.”
Adetunji Oyeyipo, INEC’s counsel, described the petitioner’s
grouse as “a storm in a teacup”.
“This witness has made two contradictory statements. There
is nothing to warrant treating him as a hostile witness,” he said.
“At the very best, he
has only given evidence not palatable to my learned friend.”
He prayed the court to refuse the application of the
petitioner.
Muiz- Banire, lawyer representing Sanwo-Olu, also agreed
with INEC’s position.
“Exhibit P36 is a product of one Ijebu Ife Community Grammar
School, not WAEC while exhibit b2 is a product of one Grandex Ventures Ltd.,
not WAEC,” Banire said.
“No one has led evidence to establish the authenticity of
that portal, so the attachment to it is totally unreliable.
“No witness has even testified on the said Grandex, section
230 of the evidence act does not avail the petitioner the right to seek leave
of court to declare the witness hostile.”
The matter was adjourned till July 4 for the continuation of the hearing.
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