ABUJA – Today is day two of President Muhammadu Buhari’s defence at the ongoing Presidential Tribunal for the February 23, 2019 presidential election, as counsel to President Muhammadu Buhari presents more witnesses to the court.
WAEC Deputy Registrar denied issuing Certificate to Buhari
One of the star witnesses of President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Oshindehinde Adewumi, who is the Deputy Registrar of West African Examiniation Council (WAEC), today, denied issuing WAEC certificate to President Buhari.
He told the court that he only certified President Buhari’s statement of result and not certificate.
When asked during cross examination to certify if exhibit R21 (Cambridge Assessment International Certified Statement), Mr. Adewumi said: ”This document is not bearing my name or signature. You cannot expect me to certify a document that is not from WAEC. This document is bearing Cambridge Assessment International Certified Statement. It is not a document from the WAEC”.
He said that he couldn’t confirm Buhari’s Cambridge Assessment International Certified Statement Of West African School Certificate issued in 1961.
Another witness, an APC collation agent, Mohammed Usman Kwatu from Nasarawa State told the court that he was present in ALL the 10 polling units under his ward during the election at the same time.
He also told the court that the election in his ward was free and fair and that polling agents of other political parties signed the result sheets.
When he was shown exhibit PMG 595 (mutilated result sheets from his ward) by counsel to the PDP and Atiku/Obi, the witness denied ever seeing the mutilated result sheets.
He also told the court that, according to the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and INEC guidelines for the 2019 General Elections, polling units where smart card readers were not used during accreditation and there were incidents of over voting, that results from such polling units should be canceled.
Mr. Usman Dagona is another witness from Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
He told the court that the election was peaceful and orderly but could not explain what he meant in his witness statement that results were attributed to PDP.
When asked if he knows the word “attributed”, he replied that attributed means ”additional votes”.
Buhari, Exhausted, called for adjournment
At exactly 11:35am, the lead counsel to President Muhammadu Buhari, Chief Wole Olanipekun called for adjournment to enable them prepare for more witnesses.
The trial judge, Justice Mohammed Garba, told him that the court still has enough time to entertain more witnesses from him before the official break time of 1:00pm, but Chief Olanipekun insisted that he was not ready to present any new witness till Thursday, August 1.
Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, counsel for PDP and Atiku/Obi, argued that the Buhari legal team had promised the court that once they commenced their defence, they would not adjourn till the end, that if the team has nothing more to offer, the team should close their case like INEC did. It But the court countered him, saying that the adjournment was within the six days time frame allotted to the 2nd Respondent, Muhammadu Buhari.
On this note, the court adjourned to Thursday, August 1, 2019.
