Grants prayers for thorough scrutiny of tendered documents
The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, yesterday, carpeted counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, for committing blunder in the mode of their presentation.
The party was flayed for its failure to comply with the court’s directive, which stipulates that documents scheduled to be presented before the court ought to have been tendered before parties involved for scrutinisation and authentication.
At the resumed proceedings, yesterday, counsel to the PDP and Adebutu, Godwin Uche (SAN), told the tribunal of his team’s readiness to formally commence trial immediately, adding that they have filed the list of their schedule of documents before the panel and have also physically brought all the said documents.
But counsel to INEC, Remi Olatumura (SAN), cautioned the move, saying that while his team is ready to move on with the case, it is always imperative on the petitioner to show the documents to all parties, insisting that he had not set his eyes on the documents for authentication.
Olatumura further said he owed his client the duty to confirm and certify that those documents actually emanated from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and accordingly scrutinise them.
In the same vein, counsel to Governor Dapo Abiodun, Kehinde Ogunwunmiju (SAN), said that going by the volume of the tendered documents and in line with rules, which remain always sacrosanct, the over 6,000 documents ought to have been presented from the Bar earlier for the benefit of the parties to view and confirm their validity.
Ogunwunmiju also told the tribunal that PDP’s counsel had accordingly followed the procedure in a similar case in Ebonyi State but decided to act otherwise in Ogun State.
He stressed that the parties needed more time to check and authenticate the documents, arguing that 24 hours might not be feasible and realistic to scrutinise such voluminous documents. He also called for the list of witnesses at least 24 hours before the commencement of the case, in which PDP also failed to comply.
Meanwhile, counsel to the third respondent, All Progressives Congress (APC), Kunle Kalejaiye (SAN), who corroborated counsel to the first and the second respondents, submitted: ‘’We have to look at the documents. The tribunal has the responsibility to ensure that the needful is done. These are very serious and strategic documents. They should have invited us to come and view.”He, therefore, prayed the court to grant two days’ leave for proper scrutiny of the documents.
In his ruling, Chairman of the tribunal, Justice H.N. Kunaza, agreed on the point of law that the PDP had failed to comply with the court’s directive that the tendered documents ought to have been presented from the Bar for the purpose of thorough verification and authentication by all parties involved. He also queried Uche’s refusal to comply with the procedure rules in Ogun State, whereas he followed the same rules in a similar case in Ebonyi.
“We cannot force them to admit documents they have not seen. All of you should look at the documents,” he said. Kunaza, therefore, granted the parties two days to thoroughly scrutinise the documents and subsequently adjourned till Thursday, July 6, 2023, for continuation of hearing.
