Focus on Abia Governorship Tribunal: Otti sends Ikpeazu scampering for refuge

BY FERDINAND EKEOMA

The drama playing out at the Abia State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal where the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Alex Otti, had dragged the declared winner of the 2019 governorship election, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of the PDP, was cut short abruptly on Friday, following a request for adjournment by the defence counsel.

Ikpeazu, the Second Respondent in the case continued the fielding of witnesses for cross examination after the tribunal resumed sitting on Monday, 29th July.

In the absence of Otti’s lead counsel Prince Lateef Fagbemi, another learned silk, Mr. A.J. Owonikoko (SAN) took the witnesses through a tortuous task of explaining to the tribunal what transpired in their units that culminated in the results that gave Okezie Ikpeazu and PDP victory in those areas.

A major huddle that became an albatross for the witnesses was a particular paragraph 9 in their depositions. That paragraph deals with the Petitioner’s (Alex Otti’s) submission that argued on the compulsory use of Electronic Accreditation before any voter could qualify to vote.

Adopting the said paragraph would amount to the witnesses accepting Otti’s position on the use of electronic accreditation and as such it was convenient for them to bypass it.

However, going by what has transpired at the tribunal sitting so far, almost all the witnesses presented by Ikpeazu have admitted that INEC used both electronic and manual accreditation, a position stoutly challenged by Otti’s lawyers who insisted that the INEC guideline was emphatic that any voter whose  voter’s card could not be read by the card reader machine should be quietly shown the exit door by the APOs, as such a person would not be qualified to vote.

Otti’s lawyers also insisted that it was clearly stated that where the card reader failed to function, that election should be moved to the next day, and explained that the essence of that guideline was to prevent over voting.

The witnesses who appeared choreographed in their response to questions saw themselves stumbling as they came to their wits end when confronted with the INEC guideline by the petitioner’s lawyer. They repeatedly admitted amid confusion that votes were cast without adherence to the guidelines.

To make matters worse for Ikpeazu, his witnesses were confronted with overwhelming evidences of the card reader data that indicated apparent massive over voting, when juxtaposed with the results contained in their depositions.

For example, in a particular polling unit, one of the witnesses who was a polling agent admitted that only card reader was used for accreditation, but he became mute when evidence presented before the tribunal showed that the result he bandied around was at variance with what the card reader recorded.

There was a particular case where 124 voters were said to have been accredited at a polling unit, but result declared had 274 votes. Same thing was seen in most of the polling units.

A particular witness who got so rattled by a question that bordered on a unit result that bore his name and signature for the PDP, sent the tribunal reeling in laughter when he said that he didn’t know how his name appeared there, attracting a loud thank you from Otti’s lawyers.

Sensing danger after their three hapless witnesses were cross-examined, with same negative outcomes, the defence team decided to cut it short and subsequently sought for adjournment until Tuesday, 6th August, 2019.

The request for adjournment surprised the tribunal chairman who had earlier reminded parties in the matter that the tribunal was racing against time, but he obliged the request of the defendants because the adjournment still falls within the number of days allotted to them.

Some observers who have been monitoring proceedings from the tribunal have expressed shock after seeing the level of over voting that took place in different parts of the state and regretted that INEC could be part of such fraud to short-change Abia voters.

Abia State has over 180 INEC Wards and over 2,700 Polling Units, so it is not hard to see how easily a party desperate for power could amass some fantastic figures when all the manufactured excess votes in each polling unit across the state are added up.

It would be recalled that the First Respondent, INEC, had hurriedly closed their case after Otti’s lawyers had decimated their witnesses with piles of proofs that left them defenceless.

For example, against the original result which announced the APC winner of the governorship election in Bende Local government, the EO in charge of Bende shocked the court when in response to questions put to him, told the court that PDP won the election there.

This blunder did not go down well with the Ikpeazu team who must have wondered how an INEC Electoral Officer suddenly forgot the party that won the election he conducted.

By the explicit provisions of the Electoral Act, over voting, especially the type witnessed in Abia, is a solid ground to nullify an election.

The pre-election boast that Alex Otti would be placed third, and the calculation that such an atrocity would break his spirit, has failed woefully, having seen him assemble a team of eminent lawyers led by Prince Lateef Fagbemi to fight and win the legal battle that would set the stage for a decisive political turnaround geared towards salvaging Abia State.

The chairman of the Tribunal has never minced words in telling his audience that he was out to do justice and yesterday before he adjourned the case, he said ” I came with my Integrity, and I must go with my Integrity.”

There is a saying that “the Slave that loves his chains, remains in bondage.” Progressive Abians do not love the slave master chains and are therefore poised to freeing Abia and Abians from political bondage.