Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu on Thursday tendered four documents at the Presidential Election Petitions Court. The documents are Forms EC8D series, one copy of Form EC8DA, Acceptation data of the BVAS machine in respect of 36 states and FCT both in hard copies and soft copies and Form EC 9 (Affidavit in support of Personal Particulars) in respect of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the second respondent in the suit filed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the PDP against President Tinubu’s victory.

Although it was the INEC Chairman that was subpoenaed to come and tender documents, Mrs. Morounkeni Oluwafunmilayo Taurus , Deputy Director, Certification and Complaints, Legal Drafting and Clearance department of INEC headquarters tendered the documents on his behalf.

Mr Samuel Oduntan ,a statistician who testified on Wednesday was cross Examined by the respondents. Under cross examination by the INEC counsel, Mr. A. B. Mahmoud, the statistician confirmed to the court that he was commissioned to do the report by the petitioners and was handsomely compensated for the job.

He confirmed that the documents he inspected did not have stamp and signature unlike the one he was shown in court. He said he was aware that the Form EC8As are stored at state capitals.

Chief Wole Olanipekun, counsel to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the witness confirmed that contrary to his assertion in his written statement on oath, he was not a witness in the Khalil Vs Yar’adua case. Asked if his report covered the FCT the witness said it was true that his report did not cover FCT adding that “No FCT in the three volume report I presented.

Mr. Oduntan said he dis-countenaced all irregular votes in Kano, Adamawa and other states where “we are not satisfied with irregularity votes even the one scored by Atiku in Adamawa”. The witness confirmed that he was at the PDP Situation office on the day of the election. Cross-examined by Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, the APC lead counsel, the witness said he inspected INEC documents at INEC Headquarters in company with PDP members.

Also on Thursday, a Professor of Mathematics engaged by the Labour Party (LP) to carry out data analysis of the 25 February Presidential Election on Thursday mounted the witness box of the Presidential Election Petitions Court presenting three reports including one with blurred 18,088 polling units.

The reports are iRev scores in Nigeria Presidential election, Data analysis of the election in Rivers state and data analysis of the result of the election in Benue state.

Prof. Eric Uwadiegwu Ofoedu a lecturer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, who appeared in court on subpoena to testify as a petitioner’s witness also tendered blurred results in 18,088 polling units. The Prof of Mathematics who was engaged by the second petitioner, the Labour Party on the 20th February, this year was “requested to carry out data analysis for the forthcoming Presidential election”.

Led by Dr. Umuechi Ikpeazu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Uwadiagwu adopted his witness statement on oath as his evidence-in-chief. He confirmed carrying out data analysis on the results of the presidential election obtained from the iReV portal.

Mr. A. B. Mahmoud Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) lead counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN and Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN objected to the admissibility of the witness statement on oath. INEC Counsel also objected to the admissibility of the letter issued to Prof. Ofoedu but did not object to the tendering of the Subpoena issued by the court. Chief Olanipekun SAN objected to the admissibility of the letter but did not object to the subpoena being tendered.

Prof Ofoedu, Mr Obi’s fourth witness, could not be cross-examined by the respondent’s counsels due to the late service of his witness statement by Dr Ikpeazu. A flash drive containing Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman’s address at Chatham House in London was admitted in evidence.

The video was tendered by Mr. Lumnie Edevbie, a staff of Arise News. He was the fifth witness in Mr Obi’s suit. In the video played in the open court, Prof. Yakubu addressed the audience at the Chatham House in January 2023 about the electoral umpire’s preparedness for ensuring the electoral integrity of the general election. Specifically, Mr Yakubu spoke about the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC IReV portal, which he assured would ensure the credibility of the polls.

The five-member court panel chaired by Haruna Tsammani adjourned further proceedings until Friday for the cross-examination of the two witnesses.