The electoral umpire through its Counsel, Uchenna Njoku, tendered, before the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, some documents about the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday opened its defence in the petition by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its candidate, Murtala Ajaka, challenging the electoral victory of Governor Usman Ododo in the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Kogi state.
The electoral umpire through its Counsel, Uchenna Njoku, tendered, before the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, some documents about the election.
According to The Nation, some of the documents tendered included "INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of the Election; INEC Manuals for Electoral Officers and INEC Form EC8C; INEC Form EC8B; INEC Form EC8E; List of Accredited Agents for SDP; List of Accredited Ward Agents; and Receipts of Payment for Forms, among others."
After the documents were tendered, the tribunal’s Chairman, Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu admitted them in evidence and marked them as exhibits.
Njoku, who announced in the court that he's holding the brief of Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), subsequently, applied for an adjournment to enable the electoral umpire to present its witnesses on the next adjourned date.
The judge adjourned the matter until April 16 for the continuation of the hearing.
Earlier, the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Birnin-Kudu, had reminded all the parties that the SDP’s petition would expire on May 29.
He said there was a need to adjust the number of days earlier allocated to the second and third respondents (Ondo and his party, the All Progressives Congress – APC) to present their cases and for the filing of the final written addresses of the parties.
The tribunal chairman subsequently adjusted the number of days to five instead of the earlier 10 days given for the respondents’ lawyers to present their cases.
Justice Birnin-Kudu assured that where five days would not be enough, the panel would not hesitate to give additional days.
He appealed for the cooperation of the parties in this regard.
The APC’s lawyer, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) however, urged the tribunal not to reduce the earlier days given to prepare their defence.
Ukala assured that the respondents would cooperate with the tribunal to ensure the timely completion of the case.
The trial tribunal chairman later explained that the adjustment to the number of days was done off-record.