Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Weekly Summary of Proceedings ~ Rescue Nigeria

This is a collation weekly summary of proceedings at the Presidential election petition

Monday July 15, 2019

The PDP and Atiku/Obi’s legal team shocked INEC and other Respondents in court with 48 video evidences and documents, showcasing the numerous fraud, rigmarole and flip-flop of the electoral commission before, during and after the general elections.

The high point of the video presentation was to prove beyond doubt that INEC indeed has and maintained a central server. It is also to show to the world that the commission transmitted results of the February 23, 2019 Presidential election to the server.

Mr. Segun Showunmi one of the spokesman of the Atiku/Obi Presidential Campaign Organization, was presented to the court by the PDP legal team as a star witness for the Party.

He was rejected vehemently by Ustaz Usman, counsel to INEC, who described his presentation as an “ambushment”. He quoted paragraph 4(6)(c) of the first schedule of the electoral act 2010 (as amended), saying that the videos were supposed to be front loaded and mentioned in the main petition.

Counsel to President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC also aligned themselves with this position.

However, the trial Judge, Justice Mohammed Garba dismissed their rejection, saying that the documents were listed as provided by law and in line with section 258(1) of the evidence act of 2011.

After much ado, the PDP and Atiku/Obi were allowed to play 4 out of the 48 video clips to the court.

1. The first video is a clip of INEC Media Officer apologizing to Nigerians for the abrupt postponement of the February 16, 2019 Presidential and National Assembly Elections to February 23, 2019, less than 6 hours before commencement of polls.

The officer cited logistic problems as reasons, but admitted that all the sensitive materials meant for the elections were deployed before the postponement.

2. The second video is a clip of Mike Igini, the Akwa Ibom state INEC REC who told Nigerians in a chat with Seun Akinbaloye of Channels TV that the Commission will transmit results to the server in order to show transparency and that the commission has nothing to hide.

3. The third video clip is a press conference by the Nigerian Army information officer on NTA, telling the world that the Army has no records of president Muhammadu Buhari’s credentials, and

4. A video clip of a press conference by the INEC Chairman himself, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, saying that the commission will transmit the results of the February 23, 2019 Presidential Election to the server.

After the presentation of the videos, Mr. Showunmi told the court that the clips are available online and records from various television interviews and programmes of known and variable broadcast institutions in Nigeria.

Mr. showunmi testified that with the records from these videos, the INEC cannot deny the existence of its server.

Other Witnesses

The PDP and Atiku/Obi’s legal team also presented witnesses from Borno and Yobe states.

In Borno state, Babagana Kukawa from Kukawa LGA and Hon. Abba Kako, both told the court that there was no elections in Borno state.

The witnesses said that the INEC in collaboration with the APC and security agents merely allocated votes to each political parties in order of preference.

Agents thump-printing for voters.

Mohammed Bulama from Yobe state reported that the APC agents in the 9 polling units in his ward were stationed at every polling units.

He told the court that voters were forced by security agents to submitted their ballot papers after accreditation to these APC agents, who in turn thump print the papers for the candidates of their choice.

Tuesday July 16, 2019

At the commencement of proceedings on Tuesday, the APC counsel presented a counter video of the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, in which the Chairman adduced to network and other logistics as reasons why the commission may not transmit results of the elections to the server.

Doctored Video

However, it was later discovered that the version of the video presented by the APC was doctored to suit its purpose. The opening part of the video which was erased by the APC was the part that the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu admitted that the commission will indeed “pioneer electronic transmission of results to the INEC server during the elections”

Presentation of witnesses

The PDP and Atiku/Obi continued with presentation of witnesses and documents to the court.

Is Atiku Abubakar a Nigerian by Birth?

One of the major highlights was testimonies on the birth place of the PDP Presidential Candidate, whether he is a Nigerian by birth as part of qualification to contest for the office of President of Nigeria.

A witness from Adamawa State, Ambassador MGSS testified that Atiku Abubakar was born in November 25, 1946, in Jada, Adamawa State. That he knew the mother of Atiku Abubakar before 1946.

Another witness from Adamawa State, Mohammed Kabir Hayatu told the court that, though Jada was part of Northern Cameroon before the plebiscite of 1961, but told the court that the part Atiku Abubakar came from has always been under the Nigerian colony and not Cameroon.

He said that the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar is a citizen of Nigeria by birth and is qualified to contest, vote and be voted for in any election in the country.

Other witnesses from Nasarawa state testified that results from Karu LGA were canceled at the collation center, even though the election in the units were peaceful and in accordance with INEC guidelines and electoral act 2010 (as amended).

Nikita Ali told the court that one INEC presiding officer was given 10,000 dollars by the APC. He said that he reported the INEC staff to the police and the police did nothing.

Another agent from Agaranga Ward in Nasarawa state reported that INEC presiding officers for the ward came to the polling units without card readers and result sheets.

Wednesday July 17, 1019

Subpoena Order:

The court of appeal on Wednesday July 17, 2019 in a subpoena order mandated the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and the REC in Zamfara state to appear before it with all the electoral materials, requested by the PDP and Atiku/Obi’s legal team.

The PDP and Atiku/Obi had obtained an Order from the Court of Appeal, four months ago, requesting the commission to make available some materials used in the 2019 Presidential Election but the INEC disobeyed this Order. Both Professor Mahmood and the Zamfara REC were to appear in court on Thursday July 18, 2019.

Presentation of Witnesses

The first witness that testified in court on Wednesday was a PDP Ward Collation Agent, Mr. Iotshe David from Karu LGA in Nasarawa State.

Mr. David told the court that the Candidate of the PDP in the February 23, 2019 Presidential election, Atiku Abubakar won overwhelmingly in his ward in Karu, but that the results were canceled by INEC.

Another agent from Karu LGA of Nasarawa state, Dangana Shao Barde told the Court that the PDP scored 22,580 votes, to defeat the APC which scored 9,407 votes. He reported that INEC canceled results in LGAs where PDP defeated the APC in Nasarawa state in order to pave way for the APC to win the PDP in the over all elections in the state.

In Chibok LGA of Borno state, Dr. Manase Allen testified that people voted without the use of card reader which is a compulsory requirements as prescribed by INEC in its guidelines.

Mr. Arume Mohammed from Kogi state told the court that few minutes into the election, thugs wearing APC tags invaded two polling units in his ward and shot sporadically into air. According to him, two people were seriously injured and one died later in the hospital from the gun shot injuries.

The witness broke down in tears inside the court and wept profusely when he was questioned by the Buhari counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun on who won election in his polling unit. He was angry that the lawyer could ask him such question after telling the court that no election took place in the units because of violence.

Thursday July 18, 2019.

Break-

Friday July 19, 2019

The Petitioners, PDP and Atiku/Obi closed its case with the presentation of their star witnesses and documents brought into the court by INEC.

The Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and the Zamfara State REC on Wednesday submitted copies of the electoral materials that were used in the February 23, 2019 Presidential election as requested by the PDP’s legal team.

The materials are:

1. Polling unit results – 3,721

2. LGA Results (Zamfara State) – 166

3. Summary of collated results at the National level – 1

4. Summary of registered voters of polling units where election did not hold – 7

5. Summary of registered voters – 1

6. Reports from the card reader accreditation on the 2019 Presidential Election – 1

7. Reports of all PVC used in the 2019 Presidential Election from the Card Reader – 291,053

8. INEC 2019 Presentation election declared result as published on INEC website – 1

The documents were not rejected by INEC except the certificate of compliance but President Buhari and the APC counsel rejected all the documents.

However, the documents were admitted in court in evidence.

Presentation of Witnesses

David Ayu Nyangor from Kenya is a data analyst that was Subpoena to testify in court.

He told the court that he got his information from a whistleblower website, www.factsdontlieng.com. That factsdontslieng was created by an INEC staff who worked inside the commission’s server room.

He referred the court to the website, saying that the website has the results of the February 23, 2019 Presidential election as transmitted by INEC.

When asked by the APC counsel if he hacked into the INEC server, he replied that he relied on the content of the whistleblower website and from his analysis, INEC indeed owns and maintained a central sever.

Another data analyst, Jospeh Gbenga who was also Subpoena to testify in court, informed the tribunal that from his records, there were substantial issues of over voting and electoral malpractices in 11 states, and results from this states should be canceled.

The last witness to testify for the PDP and Atiku/Obi was Chief Osita Chidioka. Chief Osita was the PDP National Collation Agent.

He informed the court that, as a National Collation Agent, he was part of the various stakeholders meeting where the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu promised to transmit results of the election to the server. He also told the court that even in the budget of INEC, there are provisions for the training of ad-hoc staff for the purpose of transmitting results to the server.

He reported that from records available to him from his agents across the country, the final results as declared by INEC on February 27, 2019 was not the true reflections of the results as collated by the PDP agents and both local and foreign observers.

He told the court that from the actual votes cast, the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar won the February 23, 2019 Presidential election.

In all, the PDP presented a total of 62 witnesses and several implicative documents to show that:

1. That the Candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari was not duly elected on February 23, 2019

2. That the 2nd Respondent, Muhammadu Buhari was not validly elected by reasons of all the corrupt practice of INEC, APC and security agents

3. That the election of the 2nd Respondent, Muhammadu Buhari was not validly elected by reasons of non compliance with the electoral act 2010 as amended

4. That Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidential Candidate of the APC was not qualified to contest for the office of the President of Nigeria.

5. That Muhammadu Buhari submitted to INEC affidavits containing false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election.

The court has adjourned to Monday 29, 2019 for the respondents to prepare for their defense.