Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have said the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state, Ladi Adebutu, are on a wild goose chase at the election petitions tribunal, as their petitions rest on inconsistencies and distortions.
Abiodun and the APC made the submission in their final written addresses as respondents in the case brought against them, saying that the petitioners did an awful job and failed to prove their case.
This, they said, was because Adebutu and the PDP presented tutored and unreliable witnesses, relied on documents that contradicted their witnesses’ case, and presented experts whose testimonies and documents lacked probative value. They said Adebutu and the PDP had unclean hands and could not receive equity with those unclean hands. They further said that out of the 87 witnesses of the petitioners, 38 stated they were polling unit agents but did not tender any evidence to prove their claim, adding that the 49 that testified as voters testified the same thing word for word, making the same mistakes, thereby creating a situation where the tribunal ought to hold that their depositions were too obvious to be coincidental and were therefore unbelievable and of no probative value.
Abiodun and the APC, while arguing that the petition itself was based on provisions of the Electoral Act that do not support the margin of lead principle, contended that while the margin of lead principle is rooted in Section 134 of the Electoral Act, the petition is based on sections 24, 47, 51, and 62 of the Electoral Act. Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have said the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state, Ladi Adebutu, are on a wild goose chase at the election petitions tribunal, as their petitions rest on inconsistencies and distortions.
Abiodun and the APC made the submission in their final written addresses as respondents in the case brought against them, saying that the petitioners did an awful job and failed to prove their case.
This, they said, was because Adebutu and the PDP presented tutored and unreliable witnesses, relied on documents that contradicted their witnesses’ case, and presented experts whose testimonies and documents lacked probative value. They said Adebutu and the PDP had unclean hands and could not receive equity with those unclean hands. They further said that out of the 87 witnesses of the petitioners, 38 stated they were polling unit agents but did not tender any evidence to prove their claim, adding that the 49 that testified as voters testified the same thing word for word, making the same mistakes, thereby creating a situation where the tribunal ought to hold that their depositions were too obvious to be coincidental and were therefore unbelievable and of no probative value.