CPC has no case against Jonathan -INEC •Says presidential election result stays

Posted by admin CPC (Congress 4 Progressive Change), INEC Politics, Party Politics Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Monday, urged the Presidential Election Tribunal sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja to dismiss the petitio n filed by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) challenging the victory of President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and to uphold the result of the presidential election as credible, free and fair.

INEC made the submission, just as the PDP expressed confidence that President Jonathan’s election would be validated by the tribunal.

The electoral body told the five-man panel of justices led by Justice Kumas Akaahs that the election that produced President Jonathan was adjudged to be free and fair by both local and international observers as well as a majority of Nigerians.

INEC had, on Monday, opened its defence at the ongoing presidential tribunal and called two witnesses who participated in the conduct of the election in Anambra and Enugu states.

The witness from Anambra State, Professor Boniface Egboka, a hydro-geologist and Vice Chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, was the collation officer for the state during the presidential election and adjudged the conduct of the election in the state to be free and fair while debunking the depositions made by witnesses called by the CPC concerning the state.

The don told the tribunal that he actively participated in all the events that led to the conduct of the election, from collection to distribution of all electoral materials, accreditation, voting and collation of results from ward level to the state level, where he personally collated and submitted to the chief returning officer, in his capacity as the state’s collation officer.

On the allegation by the CPC that collation of results was done at Barnhill Hotel in Awka, Professor Egboka denied the allegation and stated that the collation of results in the state was at the INEC headquarters in Awka, the state capital. He maintained that he collated results from local governments area in the state only at the legally designated centre, which was the INEC state headquarters.

While affirming that the results collated in the state were a true and accurate reflection of the votes cast and recorded in the respective polling units across the state, the witness told the tribunal that agents of political parties had access to him at the designated centres and that none of them lodged any complaint with him of any malpractice with regard to the results of the election and that the final results sheet was endorsed by the available and willing agents who were at the collation centre.

He further denied all allegations of multiple voting, manipulation of results, ballot box stuffing or any malpractice in the polling units as none was reported to him by any party.

Attempts by CPC counsel, Ibrahim Malami (SAN), to get the INEC witness to admit to inflation of the number of votes secured by President Jonathan were unsuccessful, as the vice chancellor maintained the total votes of 1,145,167 listed for Jonathan’s PDP in the final results of the election as released by INEC.

The second witness called by the electoral body was Miss Amadi Chukwunulu Chinyere, a former corps member at a polling unit in Enugu State, whom the CPC alleged was arrested by the police with already thumbprinted ballot papers during the election.

Miss Amadi denied ever being arrested by the police or in custody of any already thumbprinted election materials. She also submitted that the election at the polling unit, where she served during the polls, was hitch-free, peaceful, free and fair.

Further proceedings were adjourned until today for the electoral body to call further witnesses if any.

-Tribunewp_posts