Nasarawa guber: Engineer Sule further exposes glaring non-collation of valid APC votes

Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, has further exposed glaring non-collation of his valid votes across various collation centres in the state, during the March 18th gubernatorial election.

Witnesses testifying for Governor, before the governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Lafia, on Thursday, revealed how votes scored by Engineer Sule were not only improperly collated at various ward collation centres, but that votes scored by the All Progressives Congress (APC) were reduced while that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was inflated.

In continuation of his defence before the tribunal, Engineer Sule, through the defence counsels, presented six witnesses before the tribunal who revealed that results from various polling units were unduly manipulated in favour of the PDP at the ward collation level.

Recall that, Engineer Sule is the second respondent in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its 2023 gubernatorial candidate, David Ombugadu, challenging his declaration as winner of the governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Testifying before the tribunal, witness number two for the second respondent, Isham Abubakar Dan’azumi, a farmer and politcian, having already deposed to a statement of oath before the tribunal, referred to polling units and wards results of Wuse electoral ward in Awe Local Government Area, particularly RW42 and RW64.

According to the witness, though the governorship election held peacefully throughout the ward, with INEC officials using the BVAS machine to authenticate voters and presiding officers uploading the results on the IREV, the results for Wuse TV Centre, which is Polling Unit 010, was manipulated in favour of the PDP at the ward collation centre.

The defence witness number two, under cross examination, confirmed evidence tendered before the tribunal by the lead counsel to the APC, being the first respondent, Mathew Burkah, showing that though APC scored 353 votes at the polling unit, with PDP recording 37, the collation at the registration area of Wuse electoral ward, showed that the votes of APC was reduced to 193, while that of the PDP was increased to 197.

Also testifying before the tribunal, Abdullahi Hashim Danlami and Abdullahi Tela Usman, standing for the second respondent, confirmed the evidence tendered before the court showing that results from Kekura Primary School with Polling Unit Code 005 and Angwan Tobutor with Polling Unit Code 006 were both manipulated in favour of the PDP.

Danlami specifically confirmed that, though APC scored 213 votes, with PDP recording 59 votes, the ward collation results showed that the scores for the APC was reduced to 161, while that of the PDP was increased to 111.

On his part, Abdullahi Tela Usman, confirmed the evidence in RW40 and RW65, showing that the result of the APC was wrongly entered at the ward level. That, while the APC scored 213 votes at the polling unit, with PDP having 59 votes, at the ward collation centre, APC was recorded to have scored 161, while PDP got 111 votes.

In the same vein, Ahmed Abubakar Sarki, Abdullahi Alkassim and Kassim Tanko Kassim all testified, confirming non-collation of valid votes for the second respondent.

Sarki, a farmer and politcian from Keffi, confirmed that results from Angwan Nupawa with Polling Unit Code 006 and Angwan Yarbawa with Polling Unit Code 017, all in Tudun Kofa registration area, were manipulated in favour of the PDP.

According to the witness, while the polling unit result is showing that the APC scored 200 in Angwan Nupawa Polling Unit, with the PDP having 17, RW58, which is the ward collation result showed that APC scored 184.

Also, in Angwan Yarbawa Polling Unit, the APC got 152 votes, with the PDP scoring 7 but that the result from the ward collation centre showed that the APC has 136 votes, while the PDP got 23.

Similarly, Abdullahi Alkassim, who hails from Gangaran Yara, in Keffi Local Government Area, confirmed his statement of oath deposed on May 6th before the tribunal. He confirmed that results from Alhaji Muntari Ahuwa with Polling Unit Code 021, were manipulated in favour of the PDP at the ward collation centre.

Alkassim specifically confirmed that results from RW 39, were manipulated in RW54 in favour of the PDP.

The witness confirmed that, while the APC scored 160 votes at the Kofar Alhaji Muntari Ahuwa polling unit, with the PDP having 19, the result from the ward collation centre showed that the APC has 65 votes while the PDP got 114.

Throughout the session, councel to the first respondent, being INEC, Ishiaka Mudi Dikko, confirmed from the witnesses that elections in the areas in dispute were held peacefully and that BVAS was used by INEC officials to authenticate voters and that presiding officers uploaded all the results in dispute on the IREV.

After exhausting the six witnesses brought to testify, Counsel to the second respondent, Mubarak Adekunle, sought for the sitting to be adjourned, following which Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ezekiel Oyeyemi Ajayi, adjourned sitting to Friday, 25th August for the continuation of the hearing.