2 weeks Ago By David Meshioye
ARISE TV regular morning show on November 2, 2024, featured one Martins Obono, executive director, Tap Initiative for Citizens Development. Obono claims to be one of the many civil society activists in Nigeria and indeed, there are a legion of them. In the extant case, Obono on the Edo State gubernatorial election held on September 21, 2024, went straight for the jugular of Independent National Electoral (INEC) from start.
He referenced the results in the PDP IREV portal as if it was truly INEC IREV. A bit of balanced review of his claims portrayed INEC as dumb and obtuse. That is far from the truth! Martins Obono’s egregious claims cannot stand the heat of legal interrogation except to serve the purpose of unconscionably besmirching the image of INEC thereby keeping the forlorn hope of the vanquished falsely high.
The petition filed by the candidate of the PDP, Asue Ighodalo, before the State Election Tribunal contesting the outcome of the election clearly circumvented the dead end of making electoral malpractices and corrupt practices such as forgery of results being belaboured at ARISETV media trial as grounds for his petition. Rather, the two main grounds that will be hotly contested in the State Election Tribunal as filed by the PDP are: Non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act and that the 2nd respondent (Governor-elect) did not win with the majority of lawful votes cast at the election. The PDP is building her case around allegations of over-voting, votes suppression, etc.
The ARISETV histrionics is a superfluous and unwarranted media trial that might distract their focus on proving the allegations in their petition. It is important to call on the general public to discountenance the wild claims by the PDP and her paid agents. Further post election investigation not only confirmed the APC’s alarm but phantom and fictitious figures emanating from their illegal IREV portal is in the public space.
They lied that requisite INEC electoral forms were not filled in 320 polling units across the states, when in fact these forms were actually filled and endorsed. They did not plead the number of accredited voters as captured by the BVAS machine, They did not plead the BVAS report on accreditation of voters, yet they imagine they can prove over voting. Similarly, they repeated their allegation of over voting and non-filling of the INEC electoral forms in 75 polling units.
They then prayed that APC’s valid votes in these polling units be cancelled on the basis of these false and speculative pleadings. The APC and the 2nd respondent will soon file their replies. Without a scintilla of doubt, the emptiness and frivolity of the petition will be exposed from day one.
The APC teeming members and the public should be wary of the misleading information regularly churned out by the PDP and their agents. It will intensify in the course of the trial. The true status of the PDP petition and pleadings before the State Election Tribunal should give no one any cause for worry.
In the light of its vacuousness and hollowness, it cannot stand the test of legal scrutiny and fireworks. The counsels are not magicians and it is not within their calling to conjure evidence to prove cases!.
