Senate: Akpabio opposes application to tender INEC’s Atlas of Constituency

...petition not about senatorial district- Akpabio cries out 
...senatorial district a big issue - Okori insists 
...I left PDP because of impunity - Dr Udoma Ekarika tells tribunal

Inibehe Okori

Eight days after he tendered the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the disputed Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district election results, the Akwa Ibom State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Amadu Attai on Wednesday  appeared before the Hon Justice Goddy Anunihu led Akwa Ibom State National and State Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting at the Customary Court,  Dutsen Alhaji , Abuja to conclude his testimony at the tribunal as a witness in the ongoing trial of the disputed March 28, 2015 National Assembly election.
Dr Attai who had last Tuesday  tendered the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the final result of the Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district election as was allegedly issued by the 2nd respondent (INEC) sought the leave of the court to tender the Atlas of Constituency of the three senatorial districts in the state as produced by INEC  and relied upon for nomination and election into the senatorial seat. This was opposed to by Akpabio , INEC and the PDP .

Counsel to Akpabio, Paul Usoro (SAN) objected to the document being tendered, insisting that the full document and not an extract of it ought to have been tendered. He also argued that the witness is not the maker of the document.
Counsel to 2nd respondent, S. N. Mbaezue also objected to it saying the whole document should have been tendered to properly guide the tribunal on how the delineation was done.
Also speaking, counsel to the 3rd respondent,  Adekunle Adesanya (SAN) said Section 71 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) does not talk about an extract of a document but the whole document. He asserted that it will be unsafe for the tribunal to rely on the document as issued. The trio prayed the tribunal to discountenance the document sought to be tendered to the tribunal through the state party chairman.
Responding, counsel to the petitioner, Chief Assam Assam (SAN) told the tribunal that “admissibility is a point of law. To object, the objection must be based on law. None of the respondents counsels refereed to any law backing their opposition to the admissibility of the document “, he submitted.
He refereed the tribunal to Section 104 of the Evidence Act and told the tribunal that the witness applied for the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the disputed document and was duly issued by the 2nd respondent (INEC).
He told the tribunal that all the respondents counsels agreed the extract was part of a document produced by INEC in line with Section 71 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).  None of them disputed that fact, he said. He relied on Section 83 (1)a Sub 2 of the Evidence Act and submitted that the document in question is the only document relevant to the election to the Senate in Akwa Ibom state.
“Relevance is the fulcrum for admissibility. It’s funny that the 3rd respondents counsel will say that it will be unsafe to rely on a document issued by the 2nd respondent  (INEC) and signed by the Acting Head of Legal Department of the electoral Commission. INEC who issued the document never intended to misguided the court. Besides, the document in question was front loaded since April 18th,2015  and due notice given to all the parties. INEC for once never denied the existence of the document”, he submitted.
He prayed the court to discountenance the submission of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents and admit the document because according to him, “what constitutes a senatorial district in Akwa Ibom state is an issue in this trial and the delineation of constituencies under the constitution is relevant and admissible and I don’t see why they are running away from it”, he declared.
On the claim by counsel to the 3rd respondent that the senatorial districts in the state is not an issue in contention ,Chief Assam told the tribunal that it is indeed an issue as paragraph 12 of the petition pleaded that the Constituency the 1st respondent was nominated to contest election in Akwa Ibom state is different from the Constituency in question in this trial. “This is a document that forms part of this election, why are they not objecting, “, he asked. “You don’t plead documents, you plead facts”, he submitted. A position the tribunal agreed with.
The tribunal went on break and reconvened at about 1.55pm.
Ruling on the matter, Chairman of the tribunal, Hon Justice Goddy Anunihu said the three basic facts is that a document sought to be tendered must be pleaded, relevant and admissible. He declared that though the 3 page document is a Certified True Copy of the Nigerian Atlas of Electoral Constituency, a Publication of the Independent National Electoral Commission, with page 24 showing a map of the three senatorial districts and page 25 showing the Local Government Areas and number of Registered Voters therein, with date of certification, the disputed document has not met the relevance criteria as stipulated by law as it only states the senatorial districts and not candidates nominated for the constituencies thus the document stands rejected.
The chairman was then cross examined by counsel to the 1st respondent, Paul Usoro who sought to know the relevant disciplines he got his degrees. He told the tribunal he had his first degree in Philosophy, second degree in Public Administration and a PHD in Political Science.  Counsel to 2nd and 3rd respondents declined to cross examine the witness after Usoro was done with cross examination.
Also testifying, a former Commissioner for Health and Works in the state, Dr Udoma Ekarika while responding to a question of why he left the PDP by counsel to 3rd respondent said, he left the party because of the high level of impunity that characterized the party which were not in consonance with the founding ideals of it’s founding father’s. A total of 16 witnesses have testified against Akpabio. The case was adjourned to Thursday, August 13, 2015 for continuation of trial.