The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has claimed that the petition of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP and its governorship candidate, Prof. Sani Yahaya over the outcome of the last governorship election in Taraba state was not well founded.
Counsel to INEC, Emeka Okoro, who spoke Monday in Jalingo after the sitting of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, said the petitioners did not provide enough evidence to prove the case of irregularity during the poll and should be dismissed.
According to him, “one of the main issues in contention in this case is that the documents that the petitioners are relying upon is what is known in law as documentary hearsay.
“The law requires that if you are relying on a document, the maker of the document is supposed to be called as a witness because only the maker of the document knows the circumstances that led to the making of the document.
“And if there are questions that the litigating parties have he is the only one that can answer it.
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“Lawyers to the various parties adopted their written addresses and adumbrated as to why, on the part of the respondents, the petition should be dismissed and the petitioners have adopted and adumbrated as to why the petition should succeed.
“And the position of INEC is that the petitioners did not do enough to challenge the presumption of irregularity that the petition enjoys.
“In addition, the petitioners substantially abandoned their petition, like what they are asking the tribunal to grant, is their alternative reliefs.
” In other words, they have expressly abandoned the main reliefs they are claiming. That one on its own shows that the petition is not well founded”.
Counsel to NNPP, Ibrahim Isiaku who also spoke, said their petition was enough to prove their case.
According to him, the contentious issues as expressly stated in their petition include “non accreditation of voters in so many polling units, more votes than those accredited in some polling units and altered results.
“All these things are before the court and the effect of this is that the election in those polling units ought to be cancelled.
“But above all, what we try to bring out to the tribunal is that at the conclusion of the election, during collation, INEC’s returning officer signed a letter to the national headquarters stating that there was pressure on them to declare the result.”
