The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, Atiku Abubakar on Thursday, called his first witness to testify at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), Abuja.
Atiku and the PDP are challenging the victory of the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the February 25 presidential elections.
The witness Capt. Joe Agada, retd, told the court that he served as the State Collation Agent of the PDP in Kogi State, during the general election.
Capt. Agada told the court that he and other party agents were forced to sign results of the presidential election by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
According to him, the INEC officials, vowed not to give him a copy of the result to take back to his party, unless he signed the document.
Led in evidence by Atiku’s lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), the witness, maintained that result of the presidential election in Kogi State, was rigged.
He told the court that in over 20 polling units he visited, he observed how the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines, were manipulated
He 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.”
During Cross-examination, counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mr. Abdullahi Aliyu (SAN), the witness said it would be correct to say that he observed all the manipulations that took place in Kogi state during the election.
“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 3500 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 President Tinubu, Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, 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,” the witness told the court, even as he admitted that he served as State Collation Agent for the PDP in 2015 and also appeared as a witness in the 2019 presidential election dispute between Atiku and former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“In 2015, I refused to sign the result. But at that time, INEC did not deny me a copy to take to my party. But this year, the INEC man insisted that they would not give me a copy unless I signed the result,” Capt. Agada, retd, added.
Similarly cross examined by Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN on behalf of the All Progressives Congress APC, the witness admitted basing his report on the information supplied him by other agents of the party.
In his own evidence, Dr Solarin Sunday Adekunle, the Ogun State Collation Officer said that he refused to sign the collated results in protest against electoral malpractices.
He specifically alleged that election results were allegedly inflated inflated propmting him to decline signing the result sheets.
The third witness, Barrister Uzoma Nkem Abonta told the Court that the election was a nullify on account of so many irregularities, discrepancies and non compliance with rules of the election.
Abonta said that because INEC failed to electronically transmit elections results, what was declared did not reflect the genuine wish of the people of Abia State.
Meanwhile, further hearing in the petition has been shifted till June 2.
