Seven witnesses from respondent, who testified before the Nasarawa Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, said the votes secured by All Progressives Congress (APC) were shortchanged in the March 18 election in the state.
The witnesses, who hail from Keffi and Nasarawa Local Government Areas gave the testimonies when they appeared before the tribunal sitting on Friday.
The respondent’s witnesses from Nasarawa LGA are; Habibu Ahmad Sarki who hails from Ara Two, Ibrahim Danlami Umar, Abdulkadir Adamu Jibrin, Oduwa Sabo, Ibrahim Sabo Yahaya and Aminu Kaika Egah all confirmed to the tribunal that the governorship election was conducted peacefully in their various polling units and INEC Presiding Officers used BVAS machines to authenticate voters as well as uploaded results to iReV after conclusion of the exercise.
However, the witnesses one after the other pinpointed irregularities in their various Ward Collation levels where the scores of their party, APC, were shortchanged while those of the PDP were increased, stating that they separately complained to the INEC Ward Collation Officers but their complaints were not attended to.
Habibu Ahmad Sarki confirmed that APC scored 127 in Aleyita Polling Unit of Ara Two Electoral Ward while PDP got 31 but the results entered at the Ward level shows APC’s vote was reduced to 49 while PDP had 109 instead of 31 votes at the polling unit level.
Similarly, Ibrahim Umar told the tribunal that APC scored 141 in Emir Agatu Polling Unit while PDP got 5 but at the Ward Collation Level the APC’s result was reduced to 83 instead of 141 and that of PDP was increased from 5 to 63.
In the same vein, Abdulkadir Adamu Jibrin said he served as APC Ward Collation Agent during the March 18 governorship election, insisting that his party APC based on the polling unit results they submitted to INEC polled 192 as against 156 recorded.
Also, Oduwa Sabo from Akum in Udege Development Area testified that APC scored 168 while PDP got 19 in Kurmin Maaji Polling Unit but the score of his party was reduced to 115 and that of PDP increased to 82, and in Agbanga Two, APC scored 256 but was depleted to 205 and that of PDP increased to 69 instead of 15.
Ibrahim Sabo Yahaya, resident of Udege Mbeki reaffirmed that APC scored 290 in Odu Ward and PDP got 22 but that of his party was reduced to 212 and increased to 100 instead of 22, just as Aminu Kaika Egah from Udeni Gida confirmed that the votes of APC was recorded as 239 at Ward Collation Level instead of 338 but that of PDP was increased from 53 to 152.
Mukhtar Ibrahim, a resident of Keffi said APC scored 229 in Halilu Rahman Primary School Polling Unit of while PDP got 1 , and agents of both parties signed the result, but in Ward Collation Result of Angwan Iya, the score of APC was reduced to 224 and that of PDP increased to 6.
However, PDP lead counsel, Jibrin Samuel Okutepa SAN, sought to tender from the bar samples of Certified True Copy of iReV results from three polling units of Keffi Local Government Area, but the respondents’ counsel opposed to the admissibility of the documents, saying they will give reasons for their objections in their final written addresses just as the INEC Lead Counsel, Ishaka Muddie Dikko, argued that the documents did not emanate from the portal of his client.
Earlier, Counsel to Governor Abdullahi Sule, Dr Mubarak Adekilekun, applied to tender Certified True Copy of election results for two wards of Shege Ward One in Toto LGA and EC8 B for Gidan Ausa Two as well as receipt of payment as exhibits in support of their defense.
However, Ishaka Muddie Dikko, SAN, for INEC and Mathew Burkah SAN for APC did not object to the admissibility of the documents while PDP Lead Counsel, Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, SAN, objected to the application, saying they will advance their reasons in their final written addresses.
Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Ezekiel Ajayi, granted the application and marked the documents as exhibits before adjourning the hearing till Saturday, August 26.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then