As a fourth witness for the petitioners, Eric Ofoedu, a professor of mathematics at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, presented the papers.
The Labour Party (LP) and Mr. Peter Obi, its presidential candidate, have continued to pursue their case before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja by submitting 18,088, blurred polling unit result sheets among other documents.
The petitioners’ legal representative, Onyechi Ikpeazu, submitted the papers via their fourth witness, Eric Ofoedu, a professor of mathematics at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka.
The petitioners also submitted a report detailing the witness’ analysis of some election-related materials, a copy of a letter from the LP dated February 20, 2023, requesting Professor Ofoedu’s assistance in analyzing data related to the presidential election on February 25, and a subpoena requiring him to appear in court and present the aforementioned documents.
Abubakar Mahmoud, counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Wole Olanipekun, and Lateef Fagbemi, on behalf of the All Progressives Congress (APC), objected to the tendering of the majority of the documents and promised to provide justifications at the end of their written addresses.
The respondents’ attorneys complained that they should have been served with Professor Ofoedu’s written statement much earlier so that they could prepare for cross examination. Instead, the petitioners only served the respondents with it a few minutes before the court.
The petitioners also called a fifth witness (PW5), Lumnie Edevbie, another witness who had been subpoenaed from a private television station. Edevbie offered a flash drive that was loaded with a video of a speech made by INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu at the Chatham House in London.
An overview of the proceedings at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, as reported by the Labour Party, is provided below.
A SHORT SUMMARY OF THE PEPT PROCEEDINGS FOR TODAY (June 15, 2023)
—Procedures started around 9:40am
—LP Brought Two HD TVs to Play Videos and a Huge Collection of Evidence
—HE Petitioners were represented by Peter Obi.
—Dr. Livy Uzoukwu SAN led the appearance of LP’s counsel
Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN (1st Witness) & PIN Ikwueto SAN (2nd Witness) Presided Over LP’s Proceedings
—The first speaker today (Star Witness & 4th overall) is Eric U. Ofoedu, a math professor at Nnnamdi Azikiwe University.
Respondents objected, claiming that they had only just received the witness’ statement this morning; the court decided that he would be cross-examined tomorrow by 9am in addition to being examined in chief.
—The respondent’s objections to the adoption of the witness’ statement were raised during the witness’ chief examination.
—LP Tried to Correct the Witness’ Under Oath Statement, but the Respondents objected, saying that the corrections should be withdrawn, amended, and re-tendered. The court did admit, though.
—Three reports from the witness were presented during the deposition, objected to by the respondents, and admitted and tagged in turn by the court.
18,088 hazy voting units The results were offered, rejected by the respondents, and accepted by the court.
—2nd Petitioner offered Letter of Engagement and Subpoena to Witness
First, second, and third respondents raised objections to the letter but not to the subpoena.
The fourth respondent objected to the subpoena but did not object to the letter.
—Court declared that he would be cross-examined the following day and admitted both the letter and the subpoena.
—Lumie Idevbie, a member of the staff of Arise TV and the second witness for today and the fifth overall, was summoned. His subpoena received no objections, and the court admitted him.
His ID card was presented, the respondents made no objections, and the court admitted and tagged him.
—Respondents Objected to a Written Statement on Oath Filed by the Witness to Be Adopted as Evidence, but the Court Admitted It
—FlashDrive Video evidence presented by the witness was objected to by the respondents, but the court accepted it.
Respondents made no objections to the video playing. The 10-minute video featured Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, Chair of INEC. Speaking about elections and BVAS at Chatham House
Tomorrow’s witness will face a cross-examination.
Proceedings came to a close at around 12:49 pm and were adjourned until tomorrow, Friday, June 16, 2023, at 9 am.
