Afew days after it accused the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate in the last April 21 election, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, of tendering forged documents to prove his petition at the tribunal, the Independent National Electoral Commi-ssion (INEC) went a step further yesterday, saying its result sheets and other documents in 12 states had been tampered with.
This, however, did not go down well with the ANPP Campaign Organisation (ACO) which has demanded an unreserved apology from the commission.
INEC�s National Commis-sioner in Charge of Publicity and Information, Mr. Philip Umeadi, restated the commission�s position on the alleged forgery.
He said: �We have since discovered that from the duplicates and triplicates in our custody, the dates affixed on the documents we inadvertently certified had been mutilated and changed and it is our intention to pursue this matter to its logical conclusions legally.�
Umeadi said in an interview with THISDAY: �For sure, our documents were tampered with in 12 states of the federation. This was discovered by our legal department. For sure, there is some forgery. There are lots of differences. We stand with our position. Indeed, INEC documents were tampered with.�
The INEC commissioner, however, declined to indicate who forged the documents saying, �I did not mention the name of party or candidate that did it, but when we get to the court, let the court decide who tampered with INEC documents.
�For all I know, INEC documents were forged in 12 states. When we open our defence, all will be brought to the fore for Nigerians to see,� he said.
But in a swift reaction, ACO�s National Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said: �We of the ANPP Presidential Campaign Organisation wish to condemn in its entirety, the false allegation from INEC that we forged documents tendered at the Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal.�
Okechukwu further said: �We view this allegation as a desperate antic and orchestra of deception designed to deceive the Honourable Justices, unsuspecting public, cause confusion and deny us victory at the tribunal.
�For the avoidance of doubt, we did not mutilate nor change any document. We wish to state that INEC at the inception of the tribunal was hostile, non-cooperative and not only evaded court service but frustrated our efforts,� the campaign organisation said.
The statement added that it was also �worthy to note that when INEC finally agreed to obey the court order by allowing us to inspect its documents; INEC officials, mainly lawyers guided our inspectors at every angle.
�Although we paid for every copy, INEC officials were the custodians of all documents throughout the exercise and until they were delivered to our lawyers in September and October 2007, INEC had conveyed the documents from point A to B,� ACO said.
The organisation therefore demanded �as a matter of urgent national importance, unreserved public apology from INEC, for mischievously misinforming the Honourable Justices, the unsuspecting public and cruelly tarnishing the image of our presidential candidate, and lead counsel, whose unique selling point is integrity and transparency.�
INEC had on Monday accused Buhari of forging some of its documents to prove his petition at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja.
Buhari is challenging the election of President Umaru Musa Yar�Adua at the tribunal, asking the court to invalidate the election. The ANPP candidate formally closed his case at the tribunal two days ago.
The court had admitted conflicting presidential election results from some states, with some predating the poll, which were all authenticated by INEC as Certified True Copy (CTC).
But the electoral body, while defending the discrepancies in the results presented to the court by Buhari as exhibits, claimed that the documents were certified as CTC by the commission without knowing they had been tampered with by the petitioner and his men, who inspected the documents used for the election as directed by the court.
Umeadi had told journalists that the commission had uncovered forgery in the tendered documents, adding that the issue would be taken up with Buhari in court
According to him, �the commission has since discovered that some of these result sheets were inadvertently certified by us innocently without knowing they had been tampered with.
�We have since discovered that from the duplicates and triplicates in our custody, the dates affixed on the documents we inadvertently certified had been mutilated and changed and it is our intention to pursue this matter to its logical conclusion legally,� he explained.
Three weeks ago, Buhari�s legal team led by Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN), stunned the tribunal when he tendered pre-dated results of the April 21, 2007 presidential election, certified and issued by INEC.
In the court, Ahamba tendered, through a major witness, Emmanuel Iwuamadi, some result sheets reportedly obtained from INEC in Rivers State which were dated April 20, 2007, a day before the presidential poll.
Source: This Day