A witness has testified earlier than the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja that he was pressured to signal presidential election outcome.
Vanguard reported that the witness referred to as by Atiku and his social gathering made the revelation on Thursday.
Atiku and his social gathering are difficult the declaration of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as winner of the presidential contest that held on February 25.
At the resumed proceedings of the courtroom, Atiku’s first witness, Capt. Joe Agada, retd, instructed the courtroom that he served because the State Collation Agent of the PDP in Kogi State, throughout the basic election.
The witness, instructed the courtroom that he was pressured to signal results of the presidential election by officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
According to him, the INEC officers, vowed to not give him a duplicate of the outcome to take again to his social gathering, until he signed the doc.
Led in proof by Atiku’s lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, the witness, maintained that results of the presidential election in Kogi State, was rigged.
He instructed the courtroom that in over 20 polling models he visited, he noticed how the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines, have been manipulated
He mentioned: “My lords, other than the place I voted, which was at Ogene- Oforachi village in Ogugu Ward in Kogi State, I additionally served as my social gathering’s State Collation Agent.
“I had a tag and a car with a sticker that recognized me as being on election responsibility. The exemption tag which was issued to me by INEC, allowed me to maneuver round 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.”
While being cross-examined by counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mr. Abdullahi Aliyu, SAN, the witness mentioned it might be right to say that he noticed all of the manipulations that befell in Kogi state throughout the election.
“My lords, I’m a witness of fact. I didn’t go to all of the polling models however I used to be current when BVAS in over 20 PUs have been being manipulated throughout the 2 Senatorial Districts that I visited.
“I might not be precise, however there are nothing lower than 3500 polling models in Kogi State.
“I spent between three to five minutes in each of the polling units that I visited,” the witness added.
Asked if brokers of the PDP signed the outcome sheets, the witness, mentioned: “Yes, our brokers 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 many attorneys that appeared for President Tinubu, Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, the witness, mentioned the PDP had brokers in all of the polling models within the state.
Asked if because the State Collation Agent of the PDP, he signed the outcome sheet, he mentioned: “My lords, I used to be pressured to signal the state assortment outcome as a result of with out signing, they mentioned they might deny me a duplicate to take to my social gathering.
“I thereafter protested and also wrote a petition to INEC,” the witness instructed the courtroom, whilst he admitted that he served as State Collation Agent for the PDP in 2015 and likewise appeared as a witness within 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.
