TRIBUNAL UPDATE Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress and the Independent National Electoral Commission said they reserved their objections to more evidence tendered by Senator Iyiola Omisore before the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Osogbo. Omisore, who is governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State had on Thursday continued to tender more evidence to prove his petition. Omisore’s counsel, Dr. Alex Izinyon SAN, continued with the tendering of forms EC40Aseries from the disputed local government areas at the resumed hearing on Thursday. Although the respondents, Aregbesola, the APC and the INEC raised objections to the admissibility of the documents tendered by the petitioner, they said that they would stated the grounds of their objections at the written address stage. Counsel to the first respondent, Chief Akin Olujinmi SAN, who was the first to address the tribunal told the Justice Elizabeth Ikpejime-led three man panel that although he had objections to the admissibility of forms EC40A from the disputed local government areas, he would incorporate the reasons for objecting the document during the address stage. APC’s counsel, Mr. Kemi Pinheiro SAN and the INEC’s lawyer, Mr. Ayotunde Ogunleye, also told the panel that they would defer their grounds of objection to the documents until the written address stage. Olujinmi and Pinheiro observed some “strange documents” in the evidence tendered by the petitioner but they said the observation which would form some of the grounds of their objection to the admissibility of the documents would come later. Forms EC40A were ballot papers account and verification statement which the petitioner obtained from the INEC and tendered before the panel. There were tense moments during the proceedings as petitioner’s counsel made an oral application to the tribunal to restrict the respondent to two minutes to inspect document tendered. But Olujinmi and Pinheiro raised objections to this application. The first respondent’s counsel said he could inspect two pages of documents under two minutes but it would be unfair to compel him to spend the same two minutes to inspect 161 paged documents. He urged the tribunal to discountenance the application. Pinheiro, while urging the tribunal to dismiss the application said it was procedurally strange and was not even brought before the panel formally. The Chairman of the tribunal , in her ruling, admitted the documents in evidence and marked them as exhibit. She also asked the respondents to inspect the documents but assist the court by being speeding up the the inspection. Omisore himself was present at the Thursday hearing just like his running mate, Mr. Adejare Bello. The petitioner paraded five Senior Advocate of Nigeria at the hearing on Thursday and they are: Izinyon; Chief Chris Uche, T. Ashaolu, Nathaniel Oke and Roland Otaru
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 21:00:06 +0000
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