There was overvoting during governorship election, witness tells tribunal

A witness has testified that there was over-voting by 100 votes in his polling unit during the cross-examination of witnesses at the ongoing governorship election tribunal in Kaduna on Monday.

The witness, Haruna Abubakar, who adopted his deposition as his evidence before Justice Victor Oviawe’s panel, explained that seven hundred voters were accredited, while eight hundred votes were counted at the conclusion of the election.

Abubakar, a businessman told the court that after he voted, he stayed back but after the counting, the election result was not announced at the polling unit as prescribed by the Electoral Act.

Though, when asked by the Counsel to INEC, Alhassan Umar, if the witness could recall the number of valid and rejected votes, he said “no”.

Hauwa Hussaini, another witness at the court, explained that she was at her polling unit on the day of the election at exactly 8:45pm to cast her vote, saying, “After I was duly accredited at the polling unit, I cast my vote and stayed back until the votes were counted.”

When asked during cross-examination by the counsel to the respondents how she could determine overvoting, she said that overvoting is when the number of votes is more than the accredited voters.

Lantana Mikaila, another witness who made her deposition before the court on the 18th of July, 2023 told the court that the election process was peaceful at the early stage but later became disorderly.

However, at the resumed hearing on Monday, the petitioners, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Isa Ashiru and his party called five witnesses to give their testimonies of overvoting in their respective polling units.

The court adjourned the case to 25th July 2023 to further cross-examine other witnesses.