BVAS machines and Adeleke’s educational background cause heated debate, and the Osun tribunal is deferred

As forensic expert Mr. Samuel Oduntan testified before the Osun Electoral Petitions Tribunal on Thursday in support of the forensic investigation done on various election materials and BVA machines in the July 16 gubernatorial elections, there was a heated exchange of words.

After the petitioners’ lawyer, Mr. Akin Olujimi (SAN), questioned Oduntan, the tribunal also accepted the forensic report as an exhibit.

Oduntan says that the report was made after a forensic audit of some of the election materials used in the race for governor.

He said that the respondent, Gov. Adeleke, had also given him permission to do both a physical and digital forensic analysis of the BVAS machines used in the election.

He also said that it was in line with an order from the Tribunal on September 2, 2022, which said that INEC had to let the 2nd Respondent look at all election materials.

“The BVAS machine devices utilized for the election were the subject of a physical inspection and a digital forensic investigation, as directed by the second respondent.

Oduntan claimed that in making his observations and discoveries, he followed the international best procedures that are expected of a statistician or forensic examiner.

I looked at BVAS machines that were obtained from INEC, CTC of Forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, and EC8D. BVAS Authentication Report, BVAS Machines, CTC of Forms EC40G, INEC Osun State Directory of Polling Units, 2022, and more were also checked.

Other documents that were looked at were the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022, and the Manual for Election Officials, 2022.

Before this, the lawyer for the petitioner, Olujimi, questioned Rev. Bunmi Jenyo, a witness for the second respondent (Adeleke), about Adeleke’s education and whether or not he was qualified to be governor of Osun.

Jenyo said in court that Adeleke was qualified to run for office. He said that Adeleke did not lie on any of his certifications or have any discrepancies in his credentials.

He said that all of the governor’s diplomas and transcripts from the American schools he went to were checked out by those schools.

The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education checked the validity of the diplomas and schools that were attended.

In his response, Olujinmi questioned the truth of a few of the documents Jenyo had brought to court. However, he saved his main point for his closing letter.

The third respondent’s (PDP) attorney, Mr. Alex Iziyon (SAN), launched his case and informed the court that he would not be calling any witnesses, according to NAN.

Iziyon said that he had relied on the extra witnesses that the first and second respondents had brought up.

But Mr. Tertsea Kume, the judge of the tribunal, put off the case until January 13, 2023, when it will be heard again.