Lawyers say the elections may not be safe unless the 37-minute audio recording detailing how the Ekiti governorship ballot in June 2014 was allegedly rigged is investigated and the participants prosecuted.
The two major contestants were Governor Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ayo Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, Sagir Koli, a Captain in the 32nd Artillery Brigade released an audio recording which alleges that then Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro; Police Affairs Minister, Jelili Adesiyan; Fayose; Senator Iyiola Omisore; and Brig General Aliyu Momoh, the army commander in-charge of security during the election, discussed the rigging of the vote.
Voters Awareness Initiative (VAI) President, Wale Ogunade, insisted that the leaked tape is a fundamental evidence that cannot be ignored at the election tribunal.
He said even though both parties in the suit have closed their cases, Fayemi’s lawyers can apply for a re-opening in light of new evidence.
“This is new evidence which has arisen, which is fundamental and will help the petitioner,” he argued.
Ogunade, who was part of those who monitored the election, alleged that from the outset the military was used to rig.
His words: “Those of us who were involved in Ekiti election know that the military was used. There is a difference between law and fiction. In law, facts are what we use. You cannot alter them.
“The military cannot deny the fact that they were arresting people. We know that three days to the election, people could not go in and out of Ekiti because the inspector general of police declared a curfew.
“The military cannot also deny arresting members of the APC.”
Human rights lawyer, Fred Agbaje, said if the tape is not investigated, then the next election is not safe.
“Unless you take this matter to court, those people will continue to deny it. Unless you do that, those people may come in and play the same rigmarole in the general elections.
“For now, it is a mere audio. It lacks legality. But I know our judiciary of today, not of some years ago, will unravel it,” he added.
Abudulaziz Ibrahim, a lawyer based in Kaduna, declared that there are sufficient grounds to believe that the tape is authentic.
He cited Adesiyan who confirmed that those whose voices are on the tape attended a meeting where there was a scuffle.
Ibrahim stressed that the silence of Momoh is not golden, because if the tape is not true, he ought to deny it.
Sahara Reporters published on February 7, 2015 in which Koli identified himself as a brigade intelligence officer.
He confirmed that a few weeks to the Ekiti poll, Brig General A. Dikko was replaced by Momoh, transferred Dikko to 31st Artillery Brigade, Minna, Niger State.
Koli reportedly said the meeting between the men on the tape took place on June 20, 2014 at Spotless Hotel, Ado-Ekiti which he attended while accompanying Momoh.
He alleged that “they succeeded in rigging the Ekiti State election with victory in all the 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs). These really inspired them and they were with the euphoria that the same would happen in Osun State” in August 2014.
As part of the build-up to the Osun ballot, the brigadier general in charge there was given a three-week leave. His position was temporarily filled by Momoh.
Koli reportedly said he decided to foil their plans by contacting APC leaders, especially Muhammadu Buhari.
He said his plan was soon discovered by the alleged plotters and he had to flee for his life.
Koli’s 15-year-old younger brother, Adamu, was arrested at Koli’s house in Akure allegedly tortured at a military facility in Ibadan.
Sahara Reporters confirmed that the tape was analysed and authenticated by Guardian Consulting, an independent American-based security consulting company, with Forensic Voice Frequency Comparison technology to identify all the voices.
However, Fayose has denied the accusation in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi.
He said he never held any meeting with anyone to rig the vote and that Fayose’s voice and those of others could have been falsified using technology.
His words: “Nigerians should be reminded of how the APC people lied in 2007 that they recorded how the governorship election was rigged even in the palace of the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Rufus Adejugbe, but the party could not produce a single photo evidence at the tribunal because their plans to do what is known as Morphing and Syncing was exposed.
“Nigerians should also be reminded of the existence of a technology called speech software, which is good at reproducing the sounds, inflections and intonations of a human voice.
“There are software that can re-create voices and even bring the voices of long-dead notable persons back to life. There are software that can turn printed text into synthesised speech, making it possible for anyone to use recordings of a person’s voice to utter new things that the person never said.
“One of such software is called ‘Natural Voices.’
“The APC that we all know is a party of crooks, who are capable of doing anything, no matter how criminal to achieve their aim.”
Obanikoro took to his twitter handle to deny the authenticity of the recording. “I have not heard the recording but there is nowhere in the world you will find me talking about rigging an election,” he wrote.
However, Adesiyan, one of the alleged attendees at the meeting, confirmed the authenticity of the recoding.
Contrary to the allegation of a plot to rig the election by the PDP, he said the conversation on the tape was an altercation between Fayose and Momoh after Fayose accused him of being bribed by Fayemi.
“Fayose accused [Momoh] who supervised the Ekiti election of taking bribe from Fayemi and the APC, which was two days before the election.
“They called me because they said [Momoh] disarmed policemen and I told him to allow the policemen to do their job,” Sunday Punch quoted Adesiyan as saying.
“I was there, Fayose was there, Omisore was there, Obanikoro was there. I am not denying that there was a conversation but it was not about what they are saying.”
