Kaduna Governorship Election Tribunal: INEC rejects own documents

The Independent National Electoral Commission (lNEC) on Wednesday objected to the adoption of the deposition made by one of its staff who appeared as a witness before the Governorship Election Petition Court in Kaduna.

The witness, Mr. Bonet Gwaza, a Senior System Analyst with INEC, had on July 11 presented some governorship election documents before the tribunal.

Among the documents he presented were the INEC voter register for Kauru, Lere, Zaria, and Igabi Local Government Areas (LGAs); the BVAs report; and Form EC40G for the Igabi West constituency.

INEC Counsel Abdullahi Aliyu, however, objected to the validity and admissibility of the documents.

Similarly, Duru Adeleye and Abdul Muhammad, Counsel for Gov. Uba Sani and the All Progressives Congress, rejected the documents presented by the witness.

The respondents’ counsel said they would file reasons for the objection in their final written addresses.

In spite of the objections, the tribunal admitted the documents and deposition made by Gwaza, who appeared as a witness for the PDP governorship candidate, Isa Ashiru.

Also at Wednesday’s sitting, another witness, Danjuma Bello-Sarki, presented more exhibits to prove the petitioners claim that the elections were rigged.

Bello-Sarki was the PDP state collation officer for the March 18, 2023, governorship election in Kaduna State.

He tendered duplicate copies of the results from all the 8, 012 polling units in the state, in which he stated that 65 polling units were wrongly cancelled by INEC.

Other exhibits presented were the IREV report and the number of registered voters, among others.

The withness was cross-examined accordingly by the respondents and discharged by the court.

Meanwhile, the petitioner’s counsel, Samuel Atung, prayed for an adjournment for them to present more witnesses.

Justice Victor Oviawie, who heads the three-man panel, adjourned the case until July 19 for the petitioners to present more witnesses.