The Senator representing the northern district of Cross River State in southern Nigeria, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe has presented 33 witnesses and 1,531 exhibits in his defence at the elections tribunal sitting in Calabar, the state capital.
Also presented at the tribunal were the authenticated Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Result Viewing Centre, IREV, and hard copies of result sheet forms EC8A1.
The legal representatives of the defendant led by Mba Ukweni, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) tendered the exhibits in defence of Senator Jarigbe’s victory at the 2023 National Assembly election.
In Suit No. EPT/CR/SEN/02/2023 with Justice Mohammad Sambo as the chairman of the three-man panel, the tendered documents were admitted as evidence.
During an interview, Ukweni disclosed that the defence had wanted to present more than 500 witnesses, noting that the tribunal cut down the number.
He said, “We had over 500 witnesses but the Tribunal said we should call a maximum of 33 witnesses. But, there are many people, who are very anxious to testify.
“It took us time to persuade the judges that most of the witnesses were not on the list, but they (witnesses) said they want to come and defend their mandate,” he said.
Continuing, Ukweni stated, “There was no document tendered by the petitioner to show that the result was rigged. What they were merely trying to do was to tender a declaration of the result, which is Form EC8E1; trying to show that the names of other candidates, who lost were not on the declaration of the result list. And we will explain that in our final address.”
Explaining further, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria stated, “that form is meant to declare the winner of the election and not the person, who lost. Election is a process from the polling units to the wards, from the wards to the local government before you go to the senatorial collation.
“No crooked thing was done. In fact, if you had asked him (the petitioner) further he would have explained the circumstances because it was their intention (the petitioners) to change the scores, but the people (voters) resisted.
“The petitioners had the intention to change the scores and he (petitioner) was the sitting governor (Professor Ben Ayade) and so had powers to do what he wanted to do. But, the people of the northern senatorial district resisted,” Ukweni reiterated.
The SAN also noted, “It is not just that once a petition has been filed, it is bound to succeed. Generally, we would have said we are resting our case on their case based on the evidence before us. But, what we are doing is to be doubly sure. It is like killing an ant with a sledgehammer.”
The legal team of the petitioner led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mike Ozekhome had presented witnesses and tendered exhibits at a previous tribunal sitting.
Emmanuel Ukoh
