Tribunal begins examination of BVAS machines
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Osun State Governor-elect, Senator Ademola Adeleke, on Sunday, tackled Governor Gboyega Oyetola for alleging that he (Adeleke) admitted over-voting during the July 16 governorship election, accusing the governor and the All Progressives Congress of criminal misrepresentation of facts before the Tribunal.
In a statement issued by Olawale Rasheed,
Spokesperson to the Governor-elect, Adeleke explained that his defence at the Tribunal disproved Oyetola’s claim of over-voting in 750 polling units “as it was created by the incomplete data of BVAS based on the unsynchronised BVAS report that was used by the petitioners.”
The statement further affirmed that, “the false over-voting does not represent what is on the BVAS machine itself and the Forms EC8A,” explaining that full statement of the governor-elect filed on oath at the tribunal was explicit and detailed.
“For the benefit of members of the public, there are two aspects to the defence with respect to APC’s claim of over-voting.
“The first aspect is that the over-voting in 750 polling units as claimed by Oyetola/APC in their petition is false over-voting created by the incomplete data of BVAS based on the unsynchronised BVAS report. This does not represent what is on the BVAS machine itself and the Forms EC8A. The correct result is as captured in the synchronised BVAS report which tallies with the data on the BVAS Machine itself.
“The defence also affirmed further that even if the false over-voting in the unsynchronised BVAS report is unlikely admitted, the PDP will still be leading if votes from the affected six polling units are removed.”
However, Adeleke added, “such admission is however impossible because the Tribunal will never rely on the unsynchronised BVAS report because is at variance with what is contained on the BVAS machine itself.”
The statement clarified that the digital foot print of the BVAS machine was verifiable, submitting that both governor-elect and INEC had put the BVAS machines before the tribunal for examination.
“From the analysis on the BVAS machine itself and the Form EC8A which are the primary source as against BVAS report which is secondary, real over-voting occurred in only six polling units, submitting that if the votes in those six polling units are cancelled, PDP’s score will be 402,000 plus while the APC’s will be 374,000.
“We must emphasise that BVAS report is secondary evidence, while the BVAS machine itself and the EC8A are primary source. No Tribunal will believe a challenged secondary source while the primary source is physically before it.
“We have gone into these details to show that Senator Adeleke never admitted in the polling units challenged by the APC/Oyetola except in only 6 polling units where there is real over-voting as contained in the BVAS machine itself and the Forms.
“We, therefore, urged APC and Mr Oyetola to stop media trial as it will not intimidate the Tribunal nor sway public opinion to believe in the habitual lying and propaganda of the defeated party,” the statement read.
