By WASHINGTON OSIFO

ARISETV regular morning show on November 2, 2024, featured Martins Obono, Executive Director Tap Initiative for Citizens Development. Obono identified himself as one of the many civil society activists in Nigeria and indeed, there are a legion of them. We do know, however, that not all the activists and civil society organisations truly represent the people and national interest.

In the extant case, Obono could barely conceal the fact that he was a PDP agent, apparently to discredit the results of the Edo State gubernatorial election held on September 21, 2024 as he went straight for the jugular of INEC from start. By deliberate act of skullduggery, he referenced the results in the fake PDP IREV portal as if it was truly INEC IREV. A bit of balanced review of his claims portrayed INEC as dumb and obtuse. That is far from the truth! Obono’s egregious claims cannot stand the test of legal interrogation except to serve the purpose of unconscionably besmirching the image of INEC, thereby keeping the forlorn hope of the vanquished falsely high.

While Mr. Obono was justifying his engagement by the PDP, the petition filed by the candidate of the PDP, Asue Ighodalo, before the State Election Tribunal contesting the outcome of the election clearly circumvented the dead end of making electoral malpractices and corrupt practices such as forgery of results being belaboured at ARISETV media trial as grounds for his petition. Rather, the two main grounds that will be hotly contested in the State Election Tribunal as filed by the PDP are:

(1) Non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

(2) That the second respondent (Governor-Elect) did not win with the majority of lawful votes cast at the election.

There is no deposition or documents supporting allegations of “forgery ” before the Election Tribunal. In the petition, the PDP is building her case around allegations of over-voting, votes suppression, etc. The ARISETV histrionics is a superfluous and unwarranted media trial that might distract their focus on proving the allegations in their petition.

It is important to call on the general public to discountenance the wild claims by the PDP and her paid agents. Our party, the APC, repeatedly raised the alarm before and after the election that PDP installed digital technology equipment, including a fake IREV Centre at location near the Government House to falsify the votes scored by the respective parties at the election.

Further post-election investigation not only confirmed the APC’s alarm but phantom and fictitious figures emanating from their illegal IREV portal is in the public space. They lied that requisite INEC electoral forms were not filled in 320 polling units across the states, when in fact these forms were actually filled and endorsed.

They lied about over-voting in 58 polling units by mischievously adding “spoilt ballot papers” to their computation of valid votes cast for determining over-voting. They did not plead the number of accredited voters as captured by the BVAS machine and the BVAS report on accreditation of voters, yet they imagine they can prove over-voting.

Similarly, they repeated their wild allegation of over- voting and non- filling of the INEC electoral forms in 75 polling units. They then prayed that APC’s valid votes in these polling units be cancelled on the basis of these false and speculative pleadings.

I have carefully studied the petition and the pleadings. The APC and the second respondent will soon file their replies. Without a scintilla of doubt, the emptiness and frivolity of the petition will be exposed from day one. I believe strongly that it will be dismissed with substantial cost against the petitioners.

The APC teeming members and the public should be wary of the misleading information regularly churned out by the PDP and their agents. It will intensify in the course of the trial. The true status of the PDP petition and pleadings before the State Election Tribunal should give no one any cause for worry. In the light of its vacuousness and hollowness, it cannot stand the test of legal scrutiny and fireworks. The counsels are not magicians and it is not within their calling to conjure evidence to prove cases! When it is dismissed by the tribunal (as we hope and expect), we pray that opposition mainstream and online media outlets will not be shouting from the rooftop against the judiciary as they normally do to confuse the undiscerning and unsuspecting members of the public.

•Dr Osa Osifo wrote from Benin, Edo State