Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday admitted that there was a “seeming over-voting” in the July 16 governorship election that brought in Ademola Adeleke as governor of Osun State.
A Deputy Director in the ICT department of INEC, Mrs. Abimbola Oladunjoye, disclosed this while giving evidence before the Election Petition Tribunal hearing the petition filed by Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress (APC), against the declaration of Adeleke as the winner of the election.
Cross-examined by the petitioners’ counsel, Chief Akin Olujinmi SAN, Oladunjoye, who was referred to as a star witness of INEC, admitted that in Ward 4 unit 7, Ede South Local Government, there was an over-voting of 75, as the figure of accreditation on the BVAS report presented by INEC was 313, while the result on form EC8A was 383.
Oladunjoye’s attention was also drawn to paragraph 21.36 of his witness statement where she said the accreditation figure was 830, but in the BVAS report presented by INEC, the figure of accreditation was 793, admitting that there was an over-voting of 37.
The witness also admitted that in paragraph 26.7 of his witness statement, there was an accreditation figure of 402, while the accreditation figure on the INEC BVAS report was 263, admitting that there was an over-voting of 139.
Also in paragraph 23.24 of his witness statement, Oladunjoye agreed that the accreditation figure she mentioned was 448, while the accreditation figure on BVAS was 224, admitting that there was an over-voting of 224.
The witness, who said under cross examination that she was not a presiding officer on the election day, added that it was only the presiding officers that had explanation on what transpired at the polling units on the election day.
The INEC representative, who admitted that she signed and certified a BVAS report for the petitioners, further said the copy of the report was different from the one issued to the respondents, adding that she never indicated that the report issued to the petitioners was an interim document, which would be subjected to synchronisation.
She testified that the synchronisation was done after election result had been declared on July 17, and BVAS report was issued to the petitioners on July 27.
After the cross examination of the witness, Chief Olujinmi hinted that the irregularities identified in the BVAS report presented by INEC was just a tip of an iceberg, saying there were loads of over-voting during the election.
The tribunal had admitted as exhibits the load of BVAS machines and CTC of Form EC8 series brought to the tribunal by the INEC counsel.
After the cross examination of the witness, the INEC counsel, Prof. Ananaba, told the court that he would no longer be calling any other witness, as he applied to close his case.
Counsel for Adeleke, Onyeachi Ikpeazu, subsequently opened his defence by tendering form EC8 series used for the election.
However, the tribunal raised issue as to the safe custody of the BVAS machine tendered and admitted in evidence, as the panel ordered that the machines should be kept at the Central Bank vault in Osogbo.
The tribunal adjourned till tomorrow (today).
