APC and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s desperate move to have PDP’s application for forensic analysis of WAEC results verification back-end server and other information technology infrastructure rejected and not heard by the tribunal, suffers set back at today’s hearing, as the court allowed PDP’s application for hearing, asked parties to file their responses before the adjourned date of 6th of July.
It has become so embarrassing how Governor Sanwo-Olu and APC are doing everything to prevent the tribunal from allowing parties in this matter to prove their case that he (Governor Sanwo-Olu) lied under oath by presenting a forged WAEC statement of result to INEC in 2019. It would be recalled that JANDOR/PDP while replying to the APC response to their petition, challenged the integrity of the sudden appearance of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s name on the verification portal and subsequently requested WAEC to come forward and tender under oath, Governor Sanwo-Olu’s certificate.
A representative of WAEC who came to court, said in his witness on oath, that he was unable to tender the Certificate of Mr. Babajide Sanwoolu, but came with a purported printout from the portal, and a supposed master list which has a completely different name from the Ijebu Ife Community Grammar School WAEC statement of result in contention, a development that confirms JANDOR/PDP claims that the said result presented to INEC in 2019 is forged document and does not belong to Governor Sanwo-Olu. To further prove their claim that the sudden appearance of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s purported 1981 result on the WAEC portal, after it’s been verified on the same portal to be fake, and despite being (the new upload) a completely different name to the one he presented in 2019, JANDOR/PDP asked the tribunal to order WAEC to grant all parties and the court, access to their server and other information technology infrastructure for forensic analysis that will expose the time, day, month and year the said SANWO-OLU OLUSOLA BABAJIDE result was uploaded on WAEC portal, even though it has a different name from the one in contention.
However, the action of APC and Governor Sanwo-Olu who vehemently opposed JANDOR/PDP’s application for forensic analysis came as a rude shock to many who thought such a development should be an opportunity for him to further clear his name, and save himself from the embarrassment this certificate saga has cost him, and the people of Lagos state since the beginning of this election petition tribunal. Another surprising twist in court today was the sudden appearance of one Professor Taiwo Osipitan, SAN who stormed the court purportedly on the instructions of WAEC to argue against the subpoena issued to WAEC to submit their server for forensic analysis.
The question here is, why is WAEC wasting public funds to hire a Senior Lawyer to come to quash a subpoena for it to be transparent in its dealings in this case? Is it for fear of exposing WAEC’s culpabilities in the sudden upload of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s result on the same verification portal that has previously reported the result to be fake?, who indeed hire Prof. Taiwo Osipitan SAN, and why? These and many questions are waiting to be answered. Meanwhile, political and legal luminaries who understand the nitty gritty of this trade have considered JANDOR/PDP application as a trap for all concerned in this case, including the tribunal which must allow the petitioners every right to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, since the burden of proof is on them.
The whole of Lagos is watching to see how the tribunal will rule on this application on Thursday, but whichever way it goes, it’s a win-win for JANDOR/PDP. If the tribunal rules in favour of the JANDOR/PDP application on Thursday, it gives them room to further expose Governor Sanwo-Olu and the APC, and if it goes otherwise, it will still be on them, as such will leave room for review from the higher court, which may go very bad for APC’s Sanwo-Olu still.
