The senatorial
election petition tribunal in Kwara State has ordered the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) to forward to and put in the
custody of the tribunal all the materials used for the conduct of the
senatorial election for Kwara Central senatorial district.
The tribunal sitting
on Tuesday also granted an order permitting the petitioner, Ibrahim
Oloriegbe of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), to appoint any
forensic expert to commence full scan and screening of all ballot papers
used during the April 16 elections to “detect any incidence of multiple
thumb-printing” as alleged by Mr Oloriegbe.
The plaintiff was
also granted the right to inspect all the materials used for the
disputed polls, declared won by the outgoing governor of Kwara State,
Bukola Saraki.
Mr Oloriegbe is
challenging the election of Mr Saraki as the senator-elect for Kwara
Central, alleging multiple thumb-printing, inflation of results and
violent intimidation of voters and ACN supporters. He also claimed that
the result declared for the announced winner exceeded the number of
registered voters and that results entered at collation centres exceeded
what was declared at polling units.
Mr Oloriegbe, citing
an instance, claimed that “the number of votes entered in several
polling units, especially in Asa local government, exceeded the number
of accredited voters in such units,” thereby raising serious doubts on
the credibility of the results.
He also alleged that most of the results recorded for Mr Saraki were
written well before the election, besides the allegation that INEC
underrepresented the votes cast for him. He is therefore praying the
tribunal to declare him the true winner of the senatorial poll and
pronounce the declaration of Mr Saraki as the winner of the said
election null and void.
