The battle between the former Governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, a Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Senatorial candidate in the 2015 election and his Peoples Democratic party (PDP), counterpart, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa for the Abia North Senatorial zone was a fierce one based on the two people involved.
When the petition No. AB/EPT/SN/5/2015, was earlier mentioned, the tribunal Chairman, Justice Adeniyi Adegbanjo, advised Kalu’s lead counsel, Chief Kelvin Nwufo (SAN), to take advantage of the progress made in the consolidated petition of the candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), David Onuoha-Bourdex to expedite his presentation.
Hopeful Nwufor then told newsmen in Umuahia that the consolidation of the petitions was to save time, even as he expressed confidence that his client has a good case.
Nwufor had asked the tribunal to declare Kalu winner of the election or alternatively nullify the entire election, which he alleged was substantially marred by irregularities.
He said also that the person that declared the result of the election was not the proper person to do so, as INEC refused to do the right thing, by allowing the wrong person to announce the result, hence they were in the tribunal to seek justice.
On the outcome of the inspection of electoral materials, the lawyer said it was discovered that some of the ballot papers bore identical thumb prints, showing that it was done by one person.
He accused INEC of complicity with the PDP in giving victory to those who did not really win the election, but expressed confidence in the tribunal to ensure that justice was done.
He expressed implicit confidence in the ability of the tribunal to deliver judgment in favour of his client, in view of the evidence before it.
Adegbanjo then adjourned the matter so as to accommodate interlocutory applications on the consolidated petitions and urged all counsels to the petition to file all interlocutory applications before the adjourned date.
Counsels to the 1st and 2nd Respondents (Mao Ohuabunwa and Independent National electoral Commission) Mike Onyeka and Dr Livy Uzoukwu, acknowledged being served all the processes and indicated their readiness for the pretrial.
Speaking with journalists after the session, Nwufo said the consolidation of the petitions was to save time even as he expressed confidence that his client has a good case.
He said he wants his client to be declared winner of the election or the entire election nullified because according to him, the election was substantially marred by irregularities.
He said also that the person that declared the result of the election was not the proper person, adding that INEC refused to do the right thing by allowing the wrong person to announce the result, hence they were in the tribunal to seek justice.
On the outcome of the inspection of electoral materials, the lawyer said it was discovered that some of the ballot papers bore identical thumb prints, showing that it was done by one person.
He accused INEC of complicity with the PDP in giving victory to those who did not really win the election, but expressed confidence in the tribunal to ensure that justice was done.
Nwufo said the adjournment was for continuation of pretrial and main hearing, explaining that the implication of the consolidation of the petitions was that if at the end they win, the tribunal would
have to decide between Kalu and Onuoha-Bourdex, the person whose case is stronger and award him victory.
He expressed implicit confidence in the ability of the tribunal to deliver judgment in favour of his client, in view of the evidence before it.
He described the inspection of the electoral materials by experts hired by his client as successful, stating that the report of the exercise, which was favorable to them would soon be released.
In one of the tribunal hearings, the INEC Returning Officer, (RO) for Abia North Senatorial district in the March 28, 2015 election, Dr. Ihekweaba Chukwugoziem, who was accused by the PDP of abandoning his position told the tribunal that he never absconded or abandoned his duty post during the election.
He explained that rather than abdicating his duties, he stoutly refused to declare the result of the election based on the falsified data presented to him to declare, which his conscience did not allow him to do.
“We started to examine the results local government by local government, and after we examined Arochukwu and Ohafia results and discovered huge anomalies, the respondents refused and resisted the continuation of the examination of the remaining three local government areas. That pressure was brought on me to sign and declare the results as presented with all the manipulations in them, and I refused, insisting that the right thing should be done by concluding the examination of the rest of the local government areas before the declaration”, Ihekweaba told the tribunal in Umuahia.
He stated that he quickly wrote a report which he submitted to the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) informing her that the evasive persuasion on him to announce a pre-arranged result was not in tandem with the law, and that it could not go down well with him as well as his conscience.
When further asked under cross-examination why he went to the Federal High Court to swear to an affidavit after submitting the report to the (REC), he said that he decided to go the extra mile to ensure the right thing was done concerning the report he submitted to his employers, the INEC through the REC for the state on the large scale defalcations, mutilations and inflation of votes on the result sheets skewed in favor of the PDP candidate, Mao Ohuabunwa.
Ihekweaba, who disclosed that he is also an Associate Professor in Computer Engineering at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State noted that when pressure mounted on him by supporters of the PDP and its candidate, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, could not make him to budge, his employers, INEC did not send another person to replace him as the RO.
Under cross-examination by both the counsels of the defendant and INEC, the RO remarked that he was not in a place to know whether INEC had power to appoint another Returning Officer, stressing that he was appointed via a letter signed by the Head of Department of Electoral Operations, INEC, Mr. Okoli G. I. which he tendered to the tribunal.
The RO added that it was in response to his report that the REC set up a committee to investigate the widespread irregularities pointing out that while the committee of which he was a member went about the assignment, “The committee did not finish its work because after crosschecking two out of the five local government areas that make up Abia North Senatorial District namely Arochukwu and Ohafia, they noticed massive irregularities and at that point, the respondents refused and resisted the continuation of the examination of the remaining three local government areas” .
He told the tribunal that Pressure was brought on him to sign and declare the results as presented with all the manipulations in them and he refused insisting that the right thing be done by concluding the examination of the rest of the local government areas before declaration.
“The result I was being pressured to sign did not emanate from me as the duly appointed Returning Officer for the Senatorial election”, the RO declared.
On why he decided to depose to an affidavit of facts and suggestion that he was working for the petitioners, the witness stressed that he was not working for anyone and that he had nothing to lose by doing that which was needful, by swearing to the affidavit to ensure that the right things are done, noting that he was answerable to his conscience and INEC that appointed him.
He further stated that if he was doing what he did for money, PDP and the respondents despite the several threats being made to him and his family were ready to pay him more than anyone could have.
After taking the forensic expert witness during one of their sittings, Tribunal chairman, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, rescheduled the matter, because, according to him, it was necessary to accommodate the respondent’s witnesses.
Accordingly, they gave the new terminal date for the proceeding as October 14, 2015.
Onigbanjo overruled the objection of the respondent’s counsels against the testimony of the forensic expert, also known as SW5, which paved the way for him to be cross examined.
The counsels to the respondents had in their objections urged the court to disallow the witness on the ground that the document he came to tender was a computer-generated evidence and photocopies rather than the original document.
But counsel to the petitioner, Kelvin Nwufo argued that the objections were misconceived because the documents were duly signed by the witness himself and could not have been rightly said to be computer-generated.
After the tribunal ruling on the objections, the forensic expert told the tribunal under cross examination that he trained as a forensic expert in Kaduna, Nigeria and in the United States and duly certified for the job.
He explained that in the course of the forensic examination, he scanned 45,367 ballot papers used in the Abia North senatorial election even as he said that he separated the ballot papers according to the local government areas in order to arrive at the number for each.
According to the witness, the ballot papers were scanned for multiple finger prints for APGA, PDP and other parties, adding, “I requested and scanned original copies of INEC ballot papers, not photocopies.”
However, the tribunal did not take the second witness, SW6, though on subpoena, because it had rejected the document he came to tender on August 6, 2015, on the ground that it was a computer generated document.
However, the matter seems to be going in favour of the former governor and the PPA Candidate until the tribunal gave a verdict that surprised even his opponents for reasons which many did not understand. Kalu who was bent on taking back the mandate given to him freely by the people then headed to the Appeal Court, where justice was done as his request for a re-run was granted by the appeal court.
Delivering judgment, Justice I.G. Mbaba stated that the lower court should have ruled on certain documents for its judgments, which ought to have been filed but were not and called for a rerun within 90 days. The elated former governor, described the ruling as victory for democracy.
Source :Sun
