…INEC Closes Defence Against GRV with Zero Witness

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Lagos state governorship elections, Dr Abdulazeez Adediran (a.k.a. Jandor), and his party, the PDP have officially drawn the curtain on their case against the candidate of the All Progressives Congress Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the court declined his application to access the back-end server of the West African Examination Council.

The PDP candidate is seeking the disqualification of the state governor on the grounds that he has presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, that the deputy governor did not include his oath of declaration page in his Form EC9, and that APC did not comply with the Electoral Act (2022) while nominating Mr Sanwo-Olu and his deputy for the election.

Consequently, Mr Jandor subpoenaed the West African Examination Council to present the original certificate of the state governor, which the examination body failed to tender at the court. Consequently, the petitioner applied to access the backend server of the examination body.

The petitioner adopted the application submitted on behalf of his legal representative, Mr. Clement Onwuenwunor (SAN), noting that the application was made in the best interests of the justice and that obtaining the information would support their arguments against the state governor’s candidacy.

Objecting to the application, counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission, the 1st respondent to the petition, Adetunji Oyedipo (SAN), in their counter affidavit stated that the petitioner was only fishing out the evidence for himself without a direction, adding that the result tendered by Mr Sanwo-Olu and WAEC is enough to enable the court to decide on the matter.

The senior counsel insisted that finding additional evidence in the case would be pointless because none of the evidence presented would be beneficial to the tribunal. He urged the court to discountenance the application filed before the tribunal.

Additionally, Mr. Sanwo-Olu and Dr. Hamzat’s top legal representative, Muiz Banire (SAN), opposed the application on the grounds that the petitioner’s requests had never been the subject of a prior application, which would have established the necessity of the current application. He also indicated that the petitioner is only seeking orders against a nonexistent party.

He concluded by maintaining that the tribunal does not have the legal standing to grant the application, urging the tribunal to ignore the motion moved by the petitioner to file such an application.

Mr Chukuwudi Ani (SAN), the legal representative for the All Progressive Congress, also argued against the petitioner’s application’s legality by informing the tribunal that Mrs. Debola Adegboye, a lawyer with Mr Clement Onwuenwunor’s legal team, signed the deposition, making the motion contentious. He claimed that a prior Supreme Court decision rendered such action irrelevant.

He also appealed to the court to dismiss the application for lack of merit, stating the document contained diverse arguments which do not have facts to support them.

However, Olagbade Benson and Olalekan Ojo, the attorneys for the 5th and 6th respondents, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour and Labour Party, respectively, concurred with the petitioner’s request to access the WAEC back-end server for the original certificate of the state governor.

Speaking on the contrary, Professor Taiwo Oshunpitan (SAN), the counsel to the West African Examination Council also added that the petitioner’s application is contentious, adding that the petitioner did not clarify if he would only inspect the back-end server or the infrastructure of the examination body.

Additionally, he stated that the issue is crucial because granting the petitioner access to the WAEC client-server will make everyone who has ever registered for the exam vulnerable, not just the second respondent. He continued by saying that it would expose the examination body’s staff to the general public, particularly given some sensitive information stored in the portal.

While giving his ruling, Justice Arum Ashom declined the petitioner’s application to access the WAEC back-end server based on the arguments of the respondents and the WAEC’s counsel. He also stated that the decision was made in the best interest of justice.

INEC Closes Against GRV with Zero Witness

In the same vein, the Independent National Electoral Commission has also closed its case against the candidate of Labour Party in the Lagos state governorship election, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour on Thursday.

Mr Rhodes has earlier closed his petition on Monday after tendering a document of form EC9 to substantiate his petition against the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and deputy, Obafemi Hamzat.

Following the petitioner’s closing of the case, the Independent National Electoral Commission, which is the 1st respondent in the matter, was expected to open its defence against the petitioner’s arguments by presenting not more than 10 witnesses as ruled by the tribunal.

However, while opening the defense, the counsel for the electoral commission, Charles Edosomwan (SAN) dramatically informed the tribunal he would not be inviting any witness to the hearing, adding that the petitioner’s case does not hold any ground.

The senior advocate also added that the 1st respondent did not intend to exhaust the time allotted to him, given that there was no witness to invite to the court. He urged the court to adjourn the case.

Reacting to the development, Bode Olaonipekun, the legal representative for Mr Sanwo-Olu, and his deputy, Dr Hamzat on the other hand notified the court of his intention to tender some documents to the tribunal during his defense.

The tribunal, therefore instructed the 2nd and 3rd, and 4th respondent to prepare their defense, indicating that they will open their argument simultaneously.

Justice Arum Ashom later adjourned the hearing to July 10th, 2023.