As judgment day draws nearer in Ondo ...

Olusegun AgaguYinka Oladoyinbo writes on the proceedings at the Ondo State Election Petition Tribunal, concluding that as Governor Olusegun Agagu closed his case, judgment day may have drawn nearer than before.

AFTER almost one year of sitting, the election petition tribunal adjudicating over discontents arising from the last general election in Ondo State is set to wind up and come up with its judgment on the governorship election in the state. Already, analysts have begun to say that it can go either side. The state governor, Dr. Olusegun Agugu, on Friday, May 2, closed his case before the tribunal, setting the stage for the Nigeria Police, which is the only remaining party to the petition that has a defence before the tribunal.

Governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, had approach the tribunal to complain about the conduct of the election of April 14, 2007 which produced Agagu as the governor of the state. According Mimiko’s petition, the election was fraught with irregularities in the whole of the four local government areas of Irele, Okitipupa, Ilaje and Ese-Odo. Apart from this, the LP candidate complained of large-scale irregularities and electoral malpractices in some parts of six local government areas of Akure North, Odigbo, Ile-Oluji/Okegbo, Akoko North West, Akoko North East and Ose.

To make the tribunal, headed by justice Garba Nabaruma, to see reason with him over his claims, Mimiko submitted heaps of documents and also called about 40 witnesses, including a former senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Omololu Meroyi; a former Minster of Education and the Chairman of LP in the state, Dr. Olaiya Oni; and other notable politicians, with the petitioner himself entering the witness box as the last witness to testify as petitioner witness.

Besides, the petitioner introduced a new dimension into election petition in the country by calling three expert witnesses that are specialists in the field of hand writing and forensic. They include Cyril Egunlayi, Olatunde Yadeka and a foremost British forensic expert, Adrian Forty. They all entered the witness box and told the tribunal that their analysis of ballot papers used for the governorship election in the state revealed multiple thumb printing, non-readable thumb printing and other irregularities.

Those called by Mimiko to prove his case, from Meroyi to the last witness, told the tribunal that there was large scale fraud in the election. Many unused voters’ cards were brought by the witnesses who said the cards were collected from members of the party that were not allowed to vote. The people, according to the witnesses, could not vote because in many circumstances, electoral materials were either diverted to the houses of chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after being allegedly hijacked by hired thugs or the ballot papers were thumb printed by the thugs.

One by one, the witnesses told the tales of how the election was disrupted in their units, wards and local government areas. Many of the witnesses educated the tribunal on how officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) colluded with PDP chieftains-turned thugs and security agents to disenfranchise them and other prospective voters.

In his submission before the tribunal, Mimiko pointed out that after the supporters of the LP and other people were prevented from casting their voters, PDP chieftains that were political office holders went ahead to sign result sheets at the ward and local government levels on INEC’s forms EC8A and EC8B.

Some of those accused of signing the result sheets, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act, were the Commissioner for Land and Housing, Mr. Ayo Ifayefunmi; the Attorney General and Commissions for Justice, Mr. Yemi Alao; Mr. Denis Alonge-Niyi, who was then Chairman of Ose Local Government Area; the Chairman of the state scholarship board, Dr. Francis Igbasan; the Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff to the governor, Mr. Fola Ewegbemi; the Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Finance and Planning, Prince Toyin Ogunlade, among others.

Based on these irregularities, Mimiko prayed the tribunal to nullify the election in the disputed areas and declare him the winner of the election, having scored the majority of the lawful votes and the required percentage across the state. With this, the LP candidate closed his case, setting the stage for the first respondent, Dr. Agagu, to open his defence.
Preparatory to the opening of the defence’s case, there was a lot of media war between the parties, with the PDP alleging that the LP was planning to intimidate the witnesses to be paraded by the governor. A statement by one of the press secretaries to the governor actually accused the LP of attempting to frustrate the witnesses and preventing them from making nonsense of all the allegations raised by the LP’s witnesses.

The PDP as a party was also not left out as it called on party supporters to come out enmasse and support the governor as he presented his defence. The party also appealed to the law enforcement agencies in the state to ensure peace in the state to enable the people to continue to benefit from the programmes of the Agagu-led administration.

On Monday, April 7, the governor opened his defence and began an attempt to prove to the tribunal that he actually won the election fair and square and that all that were said by the LP’s witnesses were ‘tales by the moon light.’ The tribunal had earlier granted the governor the opportunity to call 50 witnesses, while the PDP and INEC did not have any defence to the petition as their submissions had earlier been dismissed by the tribunal, having being submitted out of the stipulated time.

The defence team of the governor, led by Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), packaged 44 witnesses who, one after the other, told the Nabaruma-led tribunal that election was free and fair. Witnesses from Ilaje to Akoko North West said contrary to the claims of the LP, elections in their areas were conducted without any hitch. According to them, election materials arrived many of the voting centres on time and that INEC officials performed their duties diligently by ensuring that everybody that presented him or herself for voting was allowed to vote.

Each time the counsel to the police, J. C. A. Idachaba, stood up to cross-examine the witnesses about the conduct of men of the Nigeria Police on the day of the election, they all affirmed that the police was not involved in any act qualified to be classified as electoral offence. One of the witnesses, who is also the traditional ruler of Iju-Oke in Okitipupa Local Government Area, told the tribunal that an 80-year-old witness called by the LP was only being economical with the truth when he said voting did not take place at all in the area. The monarch added that people came out on the election day to cast their vote for candidates of their choice. However, under cross-examination by the LP’ s legal team, he said he was a card-carrying member of the PDP.

Attempts were made to clear Ifayefunmi, Ewegbemi and Alao by some of the witnesses. One of the witnesses, Mr. Oluwasiji Ifayefunmi, who claimed to be a younger brother of the commissioner, stunned the tribunal when he was asked by counsel to the PDP, Olagoke Fakunle (SAN), whether he knew one Ayo Ifayefunmi. The witness asked: Which of the Ayo Ifayefunmi? That was the beginning of the unfolding drama at the sitting.

According to him, there were five Ayo Ifayefunmi in the family. He, thus, asked the lawyer to be specific. He then listed the five people bearing Ayo Ifayefunmi with one of his own children Ayorinde and his elder brother, the commissioner, Ayodele, as two of them. He eventually told the tribunal that it was his 18-year-old son, who came from Lagos State that signed the result at the Irele Local Government Area collation centre and not the commissioner as alleged by Mimiko.

Also, a former chairman of Okitipupa Local Government Area, Chief Ayeniyi Olayeye, testified before the tribunal that there were two people bearing Fola Ewegbemi. According to him, there was one Folabayo Ewegbemi, while there was also Folasakin Ewegbemi. Olayeye said it was Folabayo that signed the result sheet and not Folasakin. According to him, Folasakin was the special adviser to the chief of staff, while Folabayo was not holding any political office at the time of the election.

If these presentations were revealing, the last two days of the governor’s submission were more astounding and stunning. Out of the 50 witnesses to be called by the governor, six were supposed to be expert witnesses, but two were eventually called. They were Professor Emmanuel Adegbeyeni and Dr. Gabriel Apata, a lecturer at the Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji-Arakeji.

The two experts were called to prove to the tribunal that the reports of Yadeka, Egunlayi and Forty were manipulated and should not be relied upon. Adegbeyeni, who told the tribunal while being led in evidence that he scanned 350,320 ballot papers used for the election, said he could not analyse the scanned ballot papers because they were covered with dust and were not well stored.

On the last day, Apata also testified before the tribunal that he had carried out analyses that revealed that the reports of Yadeka and Egunlayi were faulty. But the witness ran into trouble many times as the results of his analyses did not tally with the coding of the units and the wards. He ended up blaming this on typographical error. Before leaving the witness box, Apata had admitted no fewer that 30 typographical errors in his reports.

One thing that could not be taken away from the sitting of the tribunal is that the judges, particularly the chairman, were in control of the proceedings. When they needed to call counsels and witness to order they did so without looking back. Also, the proceedings had been peaceful with members of the PDP and LP conducting themselves well. Despite the legal battle, you still see them in and out of the courtroom throwing banters. The two groups and the larger society of the state are anxiously waiting for the D-day when the five ‘wise men’ will read their judgment, hoping that the pendulum would swing in their favour.