From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former minister of transportation, Dr. Abiye Sekibo, yesterday, told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) how agents of President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress(APC) truncated uploading of the February 25 election results to INEC server in Rivers State.
Sekibo who served as PDP’s coordinator testified to the fact that INEC officials were restrained by agents of Tinubu and APC from using the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to uploaded collated results from polling units across the state.
Standing in the witness box as the seventh petitioners witness (PW7), Sekibo said: “The agents of the 2nd respondent (Mr. Tinubu) and 3rd respondent (APC) ensured that INEC presiding officers did not upload results of the presidential election in Rivers.”
He was led in evidence by counsel in the petitioner’s legal team to testify that the agents who perpetrated violence on voters and residents around polling units in the state disrupted the process.
“INEC couldn’t upload results across the entire Rivers State. We tried to get to Obiakpor Local Government Area but were prevented. There was violence, and people were being killed.”
Asked under cross-examination if he knew names of the agents who allegedly perpetrated the violence at the polls, he said no.
In his cross-examination, lead counsel to APC asked Sekibo how he traced the agents’ identities to Mr. Tinubu and APC. Sekibo replied that he witnessed several results collation in 20 out of the over 600 polling units across the state, saying he deduced the agents’ identities from their violent actions.
After him was the testimony of Babaji Madaki, PDP chairman in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who admitted that Atiku did not score 25 per cent votes in Abuja.
Asked by counsel to INEC if it was his opinion that for a candidate to be returned as president he must also get 25 per cent votes in the FCT, he replied: “No, it is not my opinion.”
“Did your candidate, Atiku score 25 per cent of votes in FCT,” INEC’s counsel asked to which the witness replied “No, he didn’t.”
Asked if Atiku was entitled to be returned as president having not scored 25 per cent of votes in FCT, the witness said “No.”
Asked to confirm if PDP party agents signed the collated results, he replied “Yes sir.”
In his evidence-in-chief, Ibrahim Mohammed Hamza, another collation agent for Nasarawa State (witness) said he signed results sheet under duress.
When the result sheet for Nasarawa was presented to him by the registrar, he said the result he signed was not altered and he sent the original result given to him to his party.
“I can see my signature, but the original one I signed, there was not cancellation,” he said.
He told the court that the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, did not win in Nasarawa State.
Hamza, who said he acted as PDP’s State Collation Agent (SCA) during the election, claimed that Obi would not have won his state if the election was free and fair.
He confirmed that by the scores allocated to parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Obi won the state.
“I am not happy with the result. I don’t want the court to accept this result. Labour Party cannot come first in Nasarawa State. That is impossible…we have the authentic result. It is with the National Collation Agent (of the PDP),” the witness said.
When asked if the said national collation agent was still alive, the witness said he did not know.
Hamza said he signed a clean copy of the result sheet, which he claimed was later mutilated after he had signed, alleging that all the cancellations in the result sheet occurred after he had signed.
He told the court that though he did not know the percentage of votes that Atiku scored in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), he was satisfied that the PDP candidate met all the constitutional requirements and provisions to be returned as the winner of the presidential election.
Under cross-examination by lawyer to INEC, Hamza said he voted during the election after being duly accredited by INEC officials. He said election results were duly computed but were not uploaded electronically as required.
The witness, who said his party had agents in all the polling units across the state said: “It was at the point of uploading that the system failed. It happened not only in my polling units, but also in others around the state.”
Under cross-examination by lawyer to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Hamza, who said he was not present at all the polling units during the election, told the court that he visited about 50 to 60 polling units in four wards.