Dr. Olusegun Mimiko

FOR about four hours yesterday, foremost independent fingerprint and handwriting consultant, Adrian Forty, was in the witness box defending his findings of multiple voting that allegedly characterised the conduct of the April 14, 2007 gubernatorial elections in Ondo State.

It was at the resumed hearing of the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Akure to resolve the legal controversies thrown up by the conduct of the controversial polls, which was instigated at the instance of the Labour Party candidate in the said election, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.

Mimiko in his petition where he alleged that the declared winner of the election, Dr. Olusegun Agagu was announced as a result of criminal conspiracy to deny the majority of the electorate from exercising their voting rights, is praying the tribunal to declare him as the governor of the state “having scored majority of the lawful votes cast”

The petitioner averred further that in case the tribunal cannot declare him the winner, fresh elections should be ordered in the six local councils of the Southern Senatorial District and some selected constituencies in four other councils where he alleged that massive irregularities were recorded.

The parade of Forty, a retired British policeman who is said to be the best expert in forensic investigations, and who consults for various countries of the world, especially in Europe and America in his field of interest, was meant to assist the Mimiko legal team in their task to prove beyond ‘reasonable doubt”, that only a few hands thumb-printed most of the ballot papers counted in favour of Agagu.

The Briton, who disclosed that he was commissioned by Mimiko to help his (Mimiko’s) team establish, through the use of reliable electronic method, that multiple voting characterised balloting in the disputed councils, said he was introduced to the petitioner’s linkman, Tunde Yadeka, by Professor Yemi Osinbajo, former Lagos State Attorney-General.

Led in evidence by Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), Forty, whose appearance in the Court Two of the Akure High Court premises venue of the tribunal, caused a stir among the spectators, said on oath that he stood by the contents of his sworn February 4th deposition, which had already been deposited and admitted by the tribunal.

The demand of the Mimiko team that Forty, who is the star in the list of eight expert witnesses listed by the petitioner, be allowed to display how he arrived at his findings through a demonstration in the courtroom, was however rejected by the tribunal.

The defendant’s team had opposed Akeredolu’s application that Forty should demonstrate to the court his methodology on the ground that the paragraph 4 (3) of the Practice Direction that guides the tribunal process does not allow any demonstration.

In the deposition where the expert highlighted his findings, he confirmed that indeed the poll was characterised by multiple voting as shown in the discovery that many of the thumb impressions were replicated in many places.

There were also confirmations of allegations that many of the impressions represent non-human impressions and that many others were made by juvenile, who, under the Nigerian Electoral Law, are below voting age.

Forty, who said he was assisted in his task by 48 fingerprints experts who are serving policemen of the Forensic Department of Scotland Yard headquarters of British Police, and whose bio-data were attached to the deposition for authenticity, however said that only 43.3 per cent of the 183,219 images put at his disposal for analysis, were readable.

Under cross examination by the defendants’ legal teams, led by Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Forty disclosed that 37,053 of the specimens given to him for analysis contained no scan images while those without enough reliable impressions were 61,352 while 84,814 were correctly analysed.

Forty also confirmed that he was not present at the premises of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s Akure office when the scanning and collation of the materials sent to him were being done.

The expert, however maintained that no matter how the materials were handled, it cannot affect the outcome of the judgement of scientific scrutiny.

Speaking to journalists later, Forty said that the only way to check election rigging through multiple voting and manipulation in Nigeria is for the on-going electoral reform to give more room for finger print impression developed as done in countries.

According to him, if the exercise is properly executed right from the beginning, it will help in putting democratic experiment in proper shape in the county.

The Briton who hailed the on-going electoral reform initiated by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration said that the election processes need a lot of control, which should include the input of the fingertips experts.

The fingertip expert who mounted the witness box at exactly 10.00 am also expressed optimism that with the introduction of technology to determine flaws in the electoral process, especially his invitation as fingertips expert would check election riggings in future.

Meanwhile, panic has gripped supporters of the People’s Democratic Party in the state over the appearance of Forty at the Election Petitions Tribunal.

The expert was brought by the Labour Party governorship candidate, Dr. Mimiko to prove his case that the victory of Governor Olusegun Agagu was full of malpractices.

Immediately Adrian Forty entered the witness box, it became apparent to the supporters of PDP that the insinuation that the man would not come to Nigeria, not even Ondo State to testify was not true, as they started to make phone calls to their constituencies, relating the true position of things at the tribunal.

Source: Guardian.