From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, yesterdays, called its first witness who narrated  how he was forced to sign results of the election in Kogi State.

The witness, Capt. Joe Agada (retd) said he was the state collation agent of the PDP during the disputed election.

Atiku and his party are challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu of APC as winner of the presidential contest.

Led in evidence by counsel to the petitioner, Agada told the court that he was forced to sign the result of the presidential election by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He said the INEC officials vowed not to give him a copy of the result to take back to his party, unless he signed the document.

He maintained that result of the presidential election in Kogi State was rigged.

Speaking from the witness box Agada said: “My lords, apart from where I voted, which was at Ogene-Oforachi village in Ogugu Ward in Kogi State, I also served as my party’s State Collation Agent. I had a tag and a vehicle with a sticker that identified me as being on election duty. The exemption tag which was issued to me by INEC, allowed me to move around on the election day. I had the opportunity of visiting some highlighted polling units in my LGA, even though I did not visit all the polling units.”

The witness who was being cross-examined by counsel for INEC, said he observed all the manipulations that took place in Kogi State during the election.

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“My lords I am a witness of truth, I did not visit all the polling units, but I was present when BVAS in over 20 PUs were being manipulated across the two Senatorial Districts that I visited.

“I may not be exact, but there are nothing less than 3,500 polling units in Kogi State. I spent between three to five minutes in each of the polling units that I visited,” the witness added.

Asked if agents of the PDP signed the result sheets, the witness said: “Yes, our agents signed the Forms EC8A, EC8B and EC8C. But they were forced to sign the results, especially in Kogi state, because INEC said they would not give us copies unless we signed.”

Answering questions from one of the lawyers that appeared for Tinubu,  the witness said the PDP had agents in all the polling units in the state.

Asked if as the state collation agent of the PDP, he signed the result sheet, he said: “My lords, I was forced to sign the state collection result because without signing, they said they would deny me a copy to take to my party. I thereafter protested and also wrote a petition to INEC.”

Agada said he served as state collation agent for the PDP in 2015 and also appeared as witness in the 2019 presidential election dispute between Atiku and former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Two other witnesses, Dr. Solarin Adelunle and Uzoma Nkem Azonta gave evidence to the fact that the February 25 presidential election was rigged and manipulated in favour of Tinubu and APC.

Azonta, a House of Representatives member was the PDP collation officer of the PDP for Abia state.

He testified to the effect that the results of the election in the state was manipulated.