As the National Assembly election petition tribunal sitting at the Judicial Headquarters Abakaliki continues its pre-trial siting, counsels to the petitioner and the first respondent, Chief Mba Okweni (SAN), and Chief Arthur Obi Okafor, respectively have continued to trade tackles over the authenticity of the Independent National Electoral Commissions (INEC) certified true copy result.

Speaking to journalists shortly after Thursday’s sitting at the tribunal, Chief Okweni, who described as ridiculous the claim by candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon Lazarus Ogbe, and INEC that the petitioner allegedly forged the result sheets issued to him for inspection by the Commission insisted that the result given to the petitioner tarries with what they got from the field.

According to the senior lawyer, “This is ridiculous; I think INEC need to consider how documents duly certified by the commission, the same document we got from the field during the election and it tarries with what INEC certified and gave to us would now become forge.

“We will want them to bring the one they said is the proper one outside what was used in the conduct of the election because what we want to put before the tribunal is that both the ones they gave to us from the field and the ones INEC certified and gave to us, are the same and the results should be computed on the base of things that happened in the field not the manipulation they did at the wards and local government collation centers.

“Elections were not conducted at the ward but at the polling units so the actual election result computed at the polling units should be declared. That is why I want the tribunal to examine whether the person INEC declared winner is the actual winner of the election on the basis of what took place at polling units.

“Today is the continuation of the pre-trial so the last application that was pending before the tribunal by the second respondent which is PDP was seeking to dismiss the petition on the ground that we did not apply within time and that pre-trial within time but we have applied within the close of pleading.”

According to Okweni, “This petition is going to be an interesting petition; we want to see how INEC will come and discredit its own documents because what we have, INEC gave to us. What they gave to the unit agents, the party agents, police and the respective agents, they gave to us and that is what we are coming to tender.

“So, if they are saying that the card reader they used or the results they declared in the election does not tally with the results they gave to the party, it means they did not do proper election. The result at the polling unit tarries with the case we are making. So we want to see how they will ridicule their own process.”

But in a swift reaction, counsel to the 1st Respondent, Chief Okafor, represented by Barr. Friday Agbom, maintained that the documents the petitioner intends to present to the tribunal were forged adding that they will seek the leave of the tribunal to reject the documents.

Agbom stated that the 2st respondent (PDP) led by Barr Roy Umahi had during the pre-trial move a motion seeking to strike out the petitioner’s petition on the ground of non-compliance with the electoral rule.

According to him, “The electoral rule specifically provides that immediately the respondent files his response, the petitioner replies to the response to the respondent and they applied to the court on what we call pre-trial information within seven days which they did not do and the rule is that you have to do that as soon as the respondent has comply but they waited until all respondent has filed their response.”