Ekiti tribunal: Oni drilled for 4 hours
…As he closes defence
From BOLU-OLU ESHO, Ado-Ekiti
Thurday, January 21, 2010
• Oni


The sitting of the Election Petitions tribunal in Ado-Ekiti was took place in a tense atmosphere as Governor Segun Oni, the first respondent in the case filed by the governorship candidate of Action Congress (AC), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, challenging the results of the April 25, 2009 and May 5, 2009 rerun election in Ekiti State entered the dock, yesterday.

Dr. Fayemi had challenged the declaration of Engr. Oni as the winner of the rerun election in the 10 out of the 16 local governments in the state by the National Electoral Commission (INEC), praying that he should be declared the winner.

Governor Oni was invited to the dock around 9:45am to be cross-examined by the attorneys to (AC) and Dr. Fayemi immediately after the Chairman of Oye Local Government Area, Mr.Babatunde Ogunmilugba had been crossed-examined.

Wearing white flowing agbada regalia with a lilac cap, Oni was accompanied into the court by his deputy, Dr. Sikiru Lawal, the former acting Governor, who is the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Tunji Odeyemi and other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains.
The governor, who denied Fayemi’s allegations that he (Oni) collaborated with Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to manipulate the results of the elections, adding that; “in truth, Dr. Kayode Fayemi lost the election.”

During cross examination by Chief Anthony Adeniyi, counsel to the petitioners on where he went after casting his vote on April 25, 2009, Governor Oni told the tribunal that; “I went straight to my hotel room at Celiat Hotel after casting my vote at Unit 006, Town-Hall, Ogbonyin, Ifaki Ekiti.”
When Adeniyi pointed to the duplicate of exhibit 116 (INEC Form EC8A for Unit 006) as being blank, the governor quickly retorted; “I want to crave your indulgence, My Lords. This is a discipline I had spent two decades on, I mean in the area of documents. Most especially carbon-copies. As carbon-copies multiply, the first would be less clear, the second would also be less clear. The weight of the pressure of the pen will determine how the duplicate will be. If there is no alteration and there is a duplicate, and it is not clear, so long as it is not altered, you can confirm from the original.

“As far as duplication is concern, it will continue to be fainter and fainter.”
Adeniyi also said to Oni that; “Take a look at exhibit 116, the column designed for the signature of the Presiding officer is not there,” the governor replied; “Do I need to also show him (Adeniyi) that there are some traces of ink here, which means there is an impression on the duplicate. And this also means that it was signed.”
Governor Oni also said that having realised the overwhelming support he enjoys from the people of Ido-Osi Local Government, the AC had planned to discredit the elections in the Local Government long before the election was held.

The governor noted that AC’s sinister plot eventually resulted in the destruction of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Ido-Osi Local Government on April 25, 2009 by agents of the party in order to forestall the collation of results from the Ward Collation Centres.

Describing Fayemi as a first timer in the State’s politics, Governor Oni, who dwelled on the ‘Home boy Advantage’ said “Before I contested the elections, I was for successive years personally responsible for the provision of free JAMB forms and free coaching classes for eligible candidates in the entire Ekiti State as well as the provision of scholarships for all eligible indigenes of the State.

Addressing the court after Oni left the witness box at 12:20pm, Chief Adenipekun announced the closure of the case of the first respondent, Oni. The report of nongovernmental Election Monitoring Group was however, admitted by the court as one of the evidence presented by the first respondent after the attorney to the first respondent, who presented the document had earlier objected to its admissibility.

However, the court adjourned to Friday for PDP to open its case before the tribunal. The date was agreed upon after the court turned down the request of the second respondent’s attorney, Paul Erokoro seeking for Monday to open case. He noted he would invite 48 witnesses and also subpoena some people as well while the case begins.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/jan/21/national-21-01-2010-20.htm