The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) on Monday admitted 48 video compact discc (CD) tendered by candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar as evidence in his petition against the re of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The five-man panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba in admitting the documents, dismissed the objections raised by all the respondents on the grounds that the documents sought to be tendered were in line with the agreement reached by parties and adopted by the tribunal.
Counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) respectively, objected to the admissibility of the video evidence on the grounds that the documents were not front loaded, not part of the documents agreed and that they were taken by surprise by the petitioners.
Atiku and his party, the PDP, are alleging that the February 23 presidential poll was characterised by widespread rigging, violence and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
They have been calling witnesses from various states, particularly from the northern part of the country where they are alleging most of the abnormalities took place.
After calling three witnesses at the resumed hearing on Monday, Atiku sought to tender 48 video recording of alleged Irregularities during the conduct of the February 23 poll.
Atiku and PDP also applied to the tribunal to play the video recording in the courtroom as part of efforts to substantiate their allegations of massive rigging during the poll.
Immediately Atiku's counsel, Chris Uche, SAN, announced his plan to tender the video discs and play some of them through one of its witnesses Segun Showunmi, counsel to INEC; Yunus Usman (SAN), countered the move and vehemently objected to the request.
Usman said that INEC was not in support and would not support any bid by Atiku and PDP to play the video recording for the tribunal to see and to admit same.
He insisted that the video CDs were not front- loaded by the petitioners and that INEC which conducted the election has been ambushed, adding that only documents front-loaded will be allowed to be admitted.
Buhari and APC similarly aligned themselves with the submission of INEC.
Responding, Uche, drew the attention of the tribunal to the pre-hearing report where they all consented that objections to documents admission can only be made at the final address stage.
In a short ruling, Justice Garba dismissed the objection of the respondents, reminding them of the agreement they freely entered, adding that once agreement is reached, it becomes binding on all.
He stressed that no party can deviate from the agreement or adopt a position that is in conflict or breach of the terms of the agreement.
He said in line with the agreement parties have tendered various documents, and objections indicated with reasons to the objections defferred till the final address stage, adding that no particular document was excluded from been tendered from the bar.
"Cases sighted are not material at this stage. The documents are admitted in evidence," the tribunal held.
Consequently, the panel admitted the 48 video CDs as exhibits and ordered the petitioners to lead evidence on them.
Showunmi played three of the CDs, two of which bordered on report on the controversial central server and the third on President Buhari's certificate.
In the first video which was from a clip recorded from a channels television programme, INEC's Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, was quoted as saying that results from the units and wards will be collated from the form EC8E after which they would then be transferred to the card reader and "transmitted to the central server"
However, under cross-examination the witness admitted that Igini was not the official spokesman for INEC.
Also speaking, INEC Chairman, Prof Mamud Yakubu expressed optimism before the election that the Commission would use the electronic system during the conduct of the 2019 general elections.
The third video showed the military during a press briefing stating that although Buhari claimed to possess a West African School Certificate (WAEC), nevertheless there is no evidence of the WAEC result in his personal file with the military.
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