Witnesses for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Tuesday, in evidence, alleged that the result sheets presented by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Katsina State contained many cancellations.
They also alleged that there were incidents of over voting, thuggery and violence that marred the election in the state.
These allegations followed the account as presented by Aliyu Umaru, the PDP local government collation agent.
Under separate cross-examination by the Buhari and APC counsels, Umaru said, “my result sheets were clean copies while INEC’s result sheets contained many cancellations.
Asked whether he agreed with the total number of votes scored by both the PDP and APC as recorded by the electoral umpire, Umaru responded in the negative, saying his disagreement was premised on alleged brazen rigging and over-voting mechanism adopted by the ruling party in connivance with INEC and security operatives.
Still under cross examination, the Witness, however, affirmed there was no case of non-application of card reader and that none malfunctioned throughout the time the election lasted.
Besides, there were cases of inconsistencies and contradictions in other evidences by some of the PDP witnesses.
Specifically, other witnesses in the persons of Ibrahim Musa, Audu Sani and Umar Alhaji presented various contradictions in evidence.
While Alhaji agreed the election was held on February 23, Sani, in his separate response, said it was held on April 24.
Also, Sani, in evidence, admitted that the alleged APC thugs were among parties to the matter and, yet, affirmed that the parties to the matter are: PDP, Atiku Abubakar as petitioners as INEC, Buhari and APC are the respondents.
As a witness, Musa also denied to have signed the result sheet and maintained that he can’t remember the total number of votes won by both the PDP and APC.
In his words, “I didn’t sign or get a copy of the results certified by INEC.
“I can’t remember the votes scored by either the PDP or APC.
“Even, I don’t know the number of parties that participated in the election. Counting of votes was not done in my presence. All the agents of the political parties were present during the counting.”
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