The National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been ordered by the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal to submit the certificates and other documents utilized in the 2018 governorship election by the state’s incoming governor, Ademola Adeleke.
The order was made as a result of the state resident electoral commissioner’s (REC) inability to comply with the subpoena issued to the commission during the previous meeting by producing the certificates.
The INEC’s announcement of Adeleke as governor-elect is being contested by Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
The tribunal, presided over by Justice Tertsea Kume, decided that the commission’s subpoena to disclose the records has not been answered by the REC representative’s merely appearing at the tribunal’s resumed meeting on Friday.
In its decision, the tribunal cited Sections 218 and 219 of the Evidence Act to state that a subpoena request is made under Administrative Law and, if approved, becomes a Judicial Act, requiring the party to whom the subpoena is issued to comply.
According to the court’s decision, a party must obey a court order up until the point at which the court sets it aside. The order has not been followed in this particular instance.
The tribunal further ruled that the petitioners had complete discretion over how to present their case, therefore the respondents’ request that they continue calling the witness whose testimony is predicated on Adeleke’s credentials was groundless.
According to the panel, the state REC of the commission’s refusal to turn over the papers demanded by the subpoena was the reason for the application.
The court determined that the petitioners’ evidence provided enough justification for the tribunal to order the National Chairman of INEC to turn over the requested papers.
The National Chairman of the Commission was subsequently ordered to present the documents at the panel’s upcoming meeting on Thursday, December 1 after all objections made by the attorneys for INEC, Adeleke, and PDP were rejected.
The petitioners’ attorney, Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, praised the decision as being well-researched and said it will significantly advance the administration of justice during the petition’s hearing.
Speaking to reporters shortly after the sessions, Chief Olujinmi asserted that the court had made the right decision in remanding INEC to provide the documents that contained Adeleke’s certifications.
The respondent’s refusal to deliver that document, as we stated during the previous sitting, necessitated lengthy argumentation on our part to convince the tribunal to rearrange, which they eventually did today, he continued.
This has the result that the INEC is now legally required to present these records at its upcoming court hearing on December 1, 2022, he continued.
Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN, counsel for INEC, acknowledged that the organization was now prepared to comply with the court’s order and provide the sought papers.