Ogun Tribunal accepts 150,656 ballot papers, PDP witness’ video

Reginald Nwoze, a retired deputy superintendent of police and forensic examiner, presented 150,656 ballots used in the state’s March 18 governorship election on Thursday before the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal.

Nwoze informed the tribunal that he looked over and analysed the ballots from 12 of the state’s local government areas during the respondents’ attorneys’ cross-examination of him.

The election of the state’s governor, Dapo Abiodun, who was declared the victor by the Independent National Electoral Commission in the governorship election held on March 18, is being contested by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the state, Ladi Adebutu, in a petition with the designation EPT/OG/GOV/03/2023.

He informed the tribunal that the INEC provided the ballots that were submitted.

According to Nwoze, who dissected the ballots, 109,785 had regular thumbprints, 3,470 had smudged and smudged thumbprints, and 37,401 had multiple thumbprints.

Nwoze claimed that some of the ballots on which votes for the APC were cast were marked with markers rather than thumb prints while presenting the court with his findings.

150,656 ballots from the state’s election were accepted as evidence by the tribunal. They also accepted a piece of video evidence that Sunkanmi Oyejide, a key PDP witness, had submitted. The paperwork was accepted as evidence to back up the petition that the PDP and Adebutu filed.

Remi Olatubora, counsel for INEC, and Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, counsel for Abiodun and Onyechi Ikpeazu of the APC, both objected to the video evidence and asked the tribunal not to accept it in their respective submissions.

The video recording was deemed “completely inadmissible” by Olatubora.

In their various submissions, Osipitan and Ikpeazu also denied the admissibility of the video clip, which they referred to as “hearsay.”