Ogun tribunal: More trouble for Dapo Abiodun as Court admits 150,656 ballot papers as exhibits

On Thursday, the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal admitted 150,656 ballots used in the governorship election on March 18 as evidence.

According to Platinum Times Nigeria, the tribunal previously accepted video evidence submitted by Sunkanmi Oyejide, a prominent witness for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The documents were accepted as proof to back up the petition submitted by Ladi Adebutu, a PDP candidate for governor, to contest the election of All Progressives Congress (APC) Governor Dapo Abiodun.

The ballots were presented by retired Deputy Superintendent of Police and forensic examiner Reginald Nwoze.

Although the respondents’ attorneys protested to the ballots’ acceptability, they held off on explaining why until the final addresses.

Nwoze said under cross-examination by the respondents that he reviewed and analyzed the ballots from the state’s 12 local government units.

He claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was the source of the ballot papers submitted.

According to Nwoze’s review of the ballots, 109,785 had normal thumbprints whereas 37,401 had numerous thumbprints and 3,470 had thumbprints that had been smashed and smeared.

Nwoze presented the court with his research and revealed that certain voting papers allegedly had votes written on them with white board markers rather than thumbprints.