From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

THE Supreme Court yester­day ordered Bayelsa State Governorship Election Tri­bunal sitting in Abuja to see the Digital Video Disc (DVD) tendered by the All Progres­sives Congress (APC) gov­ernorship candidate in the state, Timipre Sylva, in his bid to prove his petition against Governor Seriake Dickson.

The DVD, which was elec­tronic generated evidence, contained a press conference by the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Bari­tor Kpaghi, announcing the cancellation of the governor­ship election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

The full panel of the apex court, which affirmed the judgment of Court of Ap­peal delivered by Justice On­yekachi Otisi, unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by Governor Dickson as being ‘wholly un meritorious’.

The apex court agreed with counsel to Sylva, Mr. Sebas­tine Hon that the objection of Governor Dickson against the playing of the video by the tribunal was misplaced, un­warranted, baseless, lacking in merit.

In a unanimous judgment of full panel of seven justices delivered by Justice Chime Centus Nweze, the apex court held that the founda­tion for the admission of the videotape was properly laid by the petitioners in compliance with the requirements of sec­tion 84 of the Evidence Act in their petitions.

Justice Nwaeze directed that the witness (PW51), Mr. Emmanuel Ogunseye, who produced the videotape should be allowed by the tri­bunal to demonstrate it in the open court in the interest of justice, having complied with the relevant laws.

The court held that counsel to the appellant, Mr. Tayo Oy­etibo’s objection to the dem­onstration of the videotape rail-roaded the tribunal into unwarranted exercise, adding, “this is the fallacious piece of reasoning because section 84 of the Evidence Act did not require the production of two certificates before electroni­cally generated evidence can be demonstrated in court.

“The court has no power in making a cluster enquiry out­side the evidence adduced be­fore the tribunal as far as the videotapes already admitted in evidence by the tribunal is concerned.”

Justice Nweze added that in the instant case the single certificate tendered by the witness had satisfied section 84 of the Evidence Act and therefore there was no need for any hindrance to be put forward before the exhibit in question can be demon­strated.

“Demonstrating the evi­dence in court will allow the applicant to link the evidence and also allow the opponent to test and contest the accu­racy of the said evidence.

“In conclusion, I found that the appeal by the appellant is wholly unmeritorious and is dismissed and that the judg­ment of the Court of Appeal delivered on June 24 is hereby affirmed,” Justice Nweze.

The Justice Kazeem Alogba-led Election tribunal had in its ruling on May 10, 2016 reject­ed the public demonstration of an electronically-generated evidence to the hearing of the tribunal after it had been ad­mitted in evidence.