Atiku calls 18 of 100 witnesses to prove fraud at Presidential election

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) called two more witnesses to prove that the February 25 election was unreliable.

The two brought up a total of 18 witnesses he has called so far out of 100 witnesses scheduled for the exercise.

Abubakar and his party filed a petition against the election of President Bola Tinubu and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and INEC at the Presidential Electoral Petition Court in Abuja.

They are challenging the outcome of the election on the grounds that INEC, the electoral arbiter, failed to conduct the election in accordance with the provisions of the Elections Act 2022.

At the hearing that resumed on Saturday, one of Abubakar’s new witnesses, Alheri Ayuba, said she was displeased that she could not upload results from her polling unit to the INEC Results Portal. .

“There was a form that I filled out at the ward center in which I said that I was not satisfied because I could not send the results.

“I can’t login to INEC portal. If I had logged into the system and posted the results, it would probably be “pending” and when the network was restored it would upload,” she speaks.

The witness also told the court that she was not instigated or influenced by any politician before or during the election.

The second witness, Sadiya Haruna, told the court that the Bimodal Voter Recognition System machine she used was malfunctioning.

Haruna told the court that the results she entered manually at her polling station were what she gave the ward reconciliation officer and the party agents assigned to that unit oversaw whole process.

She said she took a picture of the results that were manually collated on the results sheet with the BVAS machine, but she couldn’t be sure if it was retained in the machine.

Earlier, INEC attorneys Kemi Pinhero (SAN) and Akin Olujimi (SAN) advisers to President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, objected to the admission of witness testimony as evidence. .

Abiodun Fashanu (SAN), an adviser to the APC, concurs with their objections.

Attorneys submitted that their reasons for objecting to the admission of witnesses’ oaths would be given at the final statement stage.

However, they did not object to the invitation of witnesses to testify in court nor to the presentation of their job offer as the Presiding Officer for the INEC election.

Abubakar’s attorney Chris Uche (SAN), who led both witnesses in the evidence, pleaded with the court to downplay the objections of the respondents and acknowledge the witnesses’ testimony.

The presiding judge of the trial Haruna Tsammani reserved the judgment on the objections until the final verdict.

Judge Tsammani also postponed the next hearing on the petition until June 13.

Follow us on social media: