By Ike Uchechukwu, Vanguard Newspaper
The Senator representing Cross River North Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Sen. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe has tendered 1,531 exhibits and presented 33 witnesses to defend his electoral victory at the Saturday, February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Jarigbe, represented by his legal team, headed by Mba Ukweni, SAN, also tendered authenticated Certified True Copies (CTCs) of INEC Result Viewing Centre (iREV) and hard copies of forms EC8A1 (Result sheets) to defend the mandate given to his client at the just-concluded general elections.
The Cross River State National Assembly Election Petition with Suit No. EPT/CR/SEN/02/2023 with Justice M. A. Sambo as the chairman and C. Akabua and J. Zululu as members admitted the tendered exhibits in evidence to the Authentic CTCs (Certified True Copies) of Results from INEC.
Speaking to newsmen in Calabar in-between the day’s proceedings, Mba Ukweni, SAN said initially they had over 500 constituents from the senatorial district lined up to testify but the tribunal has limited them to 33.
His words, “We had over 500 witnesses but the Tribunal said we should call a maximum of 33 witnesses but there are many people who are very anxious to testify.
“It took us time to persuade them that many of them are not on the list and they said they want to come and defend their mandate.”
Ukweni, who debunked the claim by the petitioners that the result was rigged, said: “There was no document they (petitioners) tendered to show that the result was rigged.
“What they were merely trying to do was to tender a declaration of the result, which is Form EC8E1, trying to show that the names of other candidates who lost were not on the declaration of result list. And we will explain that in our final address.
“That form is meant to declare the winner of the election and not the person who lost. The election is a process, from the polling units to the wards, from the wards to the local government before you go to the Senatorial collation.
“So are they saying the summation of results from the constituency level they are in doubt about the scores of the various parties.
“So it is not until their names and scores are included in Form EC8E1 that we can say they participated or any crooked thing was done.
“No crooked thing was done. In fact if you had asked him further he would have explained the circumstances because it was their intention (the petitioners) to change the scores and the people themselves resisted.
“The petitioners had intention to change the scores and he (petitioner) was the sitting governor and so had powers to do what he wanted to do but the people of the northern senatorial district resisted.
“It is not just that once a petition has been filed, it is bound to succeed. Generally, we would have said we are resting our case on their case based on the evidence before it. But What we are doing is to be doubly sure, thus all cross examinations again to be doubly sure. It’s like killing an ant with a sledge hammer,” Ukweni stated.
Immediate past Governor, Sen. Ben Ayade, represented at the Tribunal by a team of lawyers led by Mike Ozekhome, SAN, had presented its witnesses and tendered their documents also.
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