ABUJA — The Federal Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja yesterday heard that the April 19, 2003 presidential election which produced Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as president of the country, was conducted contrary to the provisions of election manual.
The revelation came on a day the presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Maj.-Gen Muhammadu Buhari denied recent media reports to the effect that he was sure he would soon be declared winner of the April 19, 2003 election, displacing Obasanjo. He said he knew better and could not have uttered any prejudicial statement.
Buhari’s petition against President Obasanjo’s victory is still pending before the Eection Petition Tribunal sitting at the Court of Appeal, Abuja. His lawyer, Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN) also denied yesterday that he told newsmen that there was no electoral problem in Nigeria. Gen Buhari and his lawyer, Chief Ahamba were quoted to have spoken at a lunch for guests at the wedding of his daughter, Nana Adiza with Bello Waziri in Kaduna about two weeks ago.
Both of them were at the Court of Appeal, Abuja yesterday. In a two-page refutal signed by Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN) distributed to journalists before commencement of hearings on the petition yesterday, they blamed the remarks credited to the spokesman of President Obasanjo on the matter to the “unfortunate misrepresentation” of what they said at the occasion.
The statement reads in part: “Publications by certain newspapers of what was supposed to have been said at a post-wedding luncheon by Gen Buhari and myself in Kaduna on June 19, 2004 have come to my notice. I wish to state in honour that both of us were substantially misquoted.
“In respect of my own speech, I wish to state categorically that I never said that there was no problem with the electoral process in Nigeria.
“In the contrary, what I said was that Gen Buhari was still pursuing the war against indiscipline.
“On the part of Gen Buhari, all he said was that he believed that at the end, he, Buhari, would be vindicated. Then he said that if Insha Allah, it happened, things would definitely change for better.
“The statement, when considered with the words actually used as emphasized above, was a mere expression of optimism which, in my humble opinion, he was entitled to make.” the statement added.
But immediately after copies of the statement were distributed yesterday, the tribunal sat with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) informing it that it was ready to open its case in the matter. Chief Ebun Sofunde (SAN) leading a battery of lawyers representing INEC called one Mrs Omoye Ann Nwoko into the witness box.
Omoye who said she was an administrative officer of INEC in Edo State told the tribunal that she worked as electoral officer in charge of Ovia North East Local Government during the election. She denied allegation that there was no election in most of the wards in the local government and that no agent of the ANPP came to meet her for collection of election materials.
She further told the tribunal that a claim by one Dr Robert Idemudia of the ANPP who had earlier given evidence before the tribunal to the effect that there were chaos during the April 19, 2003 presidential election in Benin city occasioned by fighting, hoarding of election materials, sporadic gunshots and related abnormalities were nothing but a tissue of lies. She said she knew there was no trouble in her area of jurisdiction simply because no such report came to her table.
According to her, she was a trained electoral officer who mastered well the fundamentals of conducting valid elections, adding that she even trained a number of people for the election.
But under cross-examination, Omoye admitted that she goofed as the electoral officer of Ovia North East Local Government by not ensuring that all party agents were made to certify the election materials at her disposal before distribution.
Her words: “I started distribution of election materials before 6.00am—sensitive materials. I had already finished sharing the materials at my disposal before Robert Idemudia sauntered into my office. I did not inform political parties about my schedule of sharing election materials because they were not supposed to be there.
But whem Omoye was confronted with the electoral law and the election manual, she agreed that under the law, agents of the parties were supposed to certify the election materials before distribution, stressing “I didn’t know until now.”
At this juncture, Omoye who was earlier flowing when her evidence started, was sweating and looking troubled.
Chief Ahamba (SAN) too cashed in on the loss of stability of the witness to launch other dangerous insinuations to which she fell flat for.
For instance, when Ahamba asked her to tell the tribunal what was expected to be seen at the back of a voters’ register already used for the last general election, Omoye said it was a bit long time the election was conducted but that she would still remember.
Like a student-teacher relationship, Omoye would mention a point and eyeball Chief Ahamba to get an endorsement that she was right.
She eventually caved in when she was given the election manual to read and verify whether her suggestions were right or wrong.
Said Omoye: after reading this election manual now, I now agree that I am wrong. I am surprised.”
