Abuja (Sundiata Post) – See below Atiku versus Buhari Final Verbatim Report of Proceedings at Presidential Election Tribunal, Abuja Today, July 11.
PDP and Atiku/Obi called witness number 153 on the witness list
John Desert Makama
INEC counsel Usman
He was asked to read paragraph 13 of his witness statement
He read that he was given a result sheets and after signing, submitted the results and complaints to the PDP collation agent.
He was asked if someone forced him to sign, that he said he signed the documents as LGA agent of his Party.
He was asked again to read paragraph 2 and he read that:
After voting he supervised other units under him.
He was asked if he visited all the polling units and he said no.
He was asked if those INEC forms were attached to his statement and he said no.
Buhari counsel
He was asked if Form EC8C is a record from Form EC8As and EC8B and he said yes.
He was asked if he made allegation on cancelation of votes and he said yes.
He was asked if he knows that the complaint of the PDP includes cancellation of votes from his LGA and he said yes, it’s one of the grounds.
He was asked to read the paragraph of the petition of the PDP that talked about the cancellations from his polling units and he said he is only here to testified about cancellation in his LGA and not to read paragraphs of the petition of the PDP.
He was asked if he voted on the day of the election and he said yes and accredited.
He was asked if he was the only person that went through that process and he said no.
APC Counsel
He was asked if there are many registered voters and he said yes.
He was asked if he voted and he said yes in Babur
He was asked if his complaints were centered on 31 polling units which is part of his statement and he said no.
He was asked if Election was on secret ballot and he said yes.
That he will not know who voted for which party and he said no.
He was asked to read paragraph 4 on his statement and he read.
He read that a particular ward was Atiku’s strongholds and that results from that polling units were canceled.
He was asked how he knows about the stronghold and he said he knows because he resides in that area.
He was asked if his complaints were as a results of reports from his agents and he said no that the cancellation were done at the LGA levels after results announced at the unit and ward levels.
He was asked to confirmed if he received reports from units and ward agents and he said yes.
He was asked where are the reports and he said the report is with the PDP state collation Officer.
He was asked if he did the counting at the unit and ward levels and he said he was in some.
He was asked in how many polling units and he said 44 units.
He was asked if he appears in all the 44 and he said the elections did not start at the same time.
PDP and Atiku/Obi called witness number 110 on the witness list
Khalid Yelwa Kubo
INEC counsel Usman
He was asked to read paragraph two of his statement
He was asked if this is the first time he has been in the premises of the court and he said no that it was the second time.
He read that some APC agents harassed and intimidated voters on Election Day
He was asked if those people are party to the case in question and he said yes
He was asked to name one or two and he said Hamisu Ibrahim and Shehu Yunusa, all from APC
He was asked to look at the document and read the party in the case and he read all and the INEC him if Hamisu and others are there and he said yes because they are members of the APC
He was asked if those people he alleged harassed voters are in any court and he said no, that he is not aware
Buhari counsel
He was asked to mention the number of political parties in the election and he mention three, that he does not know others
He was asked to mention the uniform his party members wore and he said he does not know, that none of the parties wore uniform
He was asked how many polling units he visited and he said not all but many
He was asked if the reports he submitted were from his agents and he said yes
He was asked if he voted on the day on the election and he said yes
He was asked if there are others that voted without problems and he said he can’t speak for others
He was asked if he submitted his reports to his party and he said yes
And he was asked if it was written and he said yes
APC counsel
He was asked if he was wearing party tag on the day of the day of the election and he said yes
He was asked if other agents wore theirs too and he said yes
He was asked if the voters wore party tags and he said no
He was asked if by 11pm he was present in all the 11 wards at the same time and he said no
He was asked to read paragraph 5 and he read
That results from the 11 wards from the LGA were collated
He was asked if he was a ward agent and he said no
He was asked if other agents in the collation center signed the results of the election and he said not all signed because results with issues were not signed.
PDP and Atiku/Obi called witness number 30 on the witness list
Adam Ali Sani
INEC counsel Usman
He was asked to read paragraph 9 of his witness statements
He read that the agents of the PDP were chased out from the collation center by security agents
He was asked if this is what he was told or he saw it personally and he said he saw them personally
He was asked if these agents are still alive and he said yes
He was asked to read paragraph 10 of his witness statement
That there was massive alteration of result by APC in connivance with security agents
He was asked how many results were altered and he said there was no figure in his statement but that results were altered
Buhari counsel
He was asked to look at paragraph 6 and he was asked if he stands by what is stated in the paragraph and he said yes
He was asked if he was the LGA Collation agent and he said yes
He was asked if there are wards collation agents and he said yes
He was asked that part of the work of the ward collation agent is the receive of reports from the polling agents and he said yes
He was asked if the forms used at the polling station are the same used in the LGA and he said no
He was asked if the results from Form EC8As are transferred to Form EC8B and he said yes
And from B to C and he said yes
He was asked if Election starts at 8 am and stoped at 3pm but he said no that Election started at 8am and stoped at 2Pm
He was asked if he did not collect the collated LGA results and he said yes
APC counsel
He was asked if he witnessed the voting process at the polling units and he said yes, he supervised voting and collated results from units and wards
He was asked if his duty was to monitor voting and he said yes, he supervised voting
He was referred to paragraph 8 of his witness statements and asked if he received all the forms from his polling units and wards and he said he only received some results
He was referred to paragraph 16 of his witness statement
He read that wrong entries were made during Collations
He was asked how many votes and he said he can’t say because results were not counted
He was asked where he got results that he entered into Form EC8As and Bs and he said from his agents
He was asked to read his paragraph 8 again and he read saying that he did not received most of the forms and he was asked how many forms he received and he said some of the forms.
The PDP and Atiku/Obi tendered a document to the court. A manual on Election technologies and a receipt certifying the said documents from INEC
The documents were rejected by all the respondents. i.e, INEC, Buhari and APC but were admitted in evidence.
The PDP and Atiku/Obi called witness number 26 on the witness list
Bukar Pedro
INEC counsel
He was referred to paragraph 6 and asked if his duty is as prescribed in paragraph 6 and he said yes
He was asked if he performed any other functions outside his duty assigned to him by party and he said no
He was asked if his duties included moving round the polling units and he said yes
He was asked to read his statement and asked if he was supposed to go round the polling units and he said yes that his duties warrants him to receive, collate results from other polling agents
He was asked if he voted and he said yes
He was referred to paragraph 16 and asked if the statement he wrote were given to him by someone that the APC took advantage of the terrorist activities in Borno state to perpetrate electoral violence and mutilate results in favor of its candidate, Muhammadu Bubari
That all the 10 wards in 100 polling units voted in one LGA headquarters and the APC disenfranchised voters and manipulated the results to its favour
Buhari counsel
He was asked if he was accredited before voting and he said yes
He was asked despite the security challenges, if the various political parties had their polling agents and he said yes, only at the commencement of the election but later on, they ran away because of the security challenges but INEC declared results in that LGA. Damboa LGA
He was asked if he knows that Buhari was Nigeria head of state in the 80s and he said yes
He was asked if he heard Buhari addressing Nigerians in English language but he said he was 6 years old and only listened to music
He was asked if he knows the officers of the civilian JTF and he said no
He was asked if the agents of party wore uniforms and he said no, only tags
APC counsel Chief Oladipo
He was asked if he voted and he said yes
He was asked if he was accredited before voting and he said yes
He was asked if voting started late because of terrorist activities but he said no that voting started late because of electoral Officer and that voting started 10:03am
He was asked if he concluded his first responsibility of checking that sensitive materials were distributed and he said yes
He was asked if he enjoys special privilege with INEC but he said no, but with his people from his polling units and not INEC
He was asked if there were boko haram activities and he said yes and that the boko haram took over Proceedings after some few hours voting started
That civilian JTF worked with the APC to concoct results for the Party and that he reported the ugly incidents to about five different agencies
He was asked if he reported to his party, the PDP and he said yes
He was asked if these reports were in writing and he said yes, for the PDP, but for others due to the security situation, he only reported verbally to other security agencies
He was asked if the copy of his reports were part of the statement and he said no
He was asked if the JTF are party to this suit and he said no
He was asked if he was the only one remaining after the attack by Boko Haram but he said everyone ran away
He was asked if Election in 100 polling units took place at Damboa LGA and he said yes because of security situation.
The PDP and Atiku/Obi called witness number 179 on the witness list
Yalwe Yusuf
He was asked if he voted on Election Day and he said yes
He was asked if he was intimidated and he said yes
He was asked if the intimidated did not stop him from voting and he said the intimidated did not stop him from voting but altered the results of the elections
He was referred to paragraph 11 of his witness statement
He read that the results were changed by agents of the APC and reproduced by APC agents
He was asked if the manipulated results were with him and he said no
He was asked when his party appointed him as agents, what did he submit to the party and he said he gave his party his name
He was asked if his party submitted his name to INEC office and he said yes that his name was submitted to INEC as PDP LGA agent
He was asked if those that harassed him at the election were party to the case and he said yes, that they were acting on behalf of their principal
He was asked if those that trashed the results were convicted and he said that is not his duty, that he only made his report
Buhari counsel
He was asked if he was the LGA polling unit agent of the PDP and he said yes
He was asked if he voted and said yes
He was asked where did he go to after voting and he said he went round to supervise other agents
He was asked if his duty ends at his LGA and where he voted and no, as the LGA agent he is supposed to move around and returned to his collation center by 8pm
He was asked if as PDP LGA agents, he is supposed to confine himself to the collation center but he said no, that it’s his duty to move around within his LGA
He was asked if he is a polling unit agent and he said yes but an LGA agent
He was asked if he was a ward collation agent and he said no
He was asked if he was part of the process of transmitting results from polling unit to ward and he said not directly but indirectly
He was asked if anyone forced him to sign Form EC8C and he said no, but he signed only to use it as a reference
He was asked if those agents that were intimidated were the ones that told him about the intimidation and he said no
APC counsel
He was asked if he monitored distribution of materials and he said yes
He was asked if he went through full accreditation before voting and he said yes
He was asked if at the end of voting, if his agents at the polling units and ward brought their result sheets to him and he said yes
He was asked if he signed the form EC8C based on the reports from polling unit and ward agents reports and he said yes
He was asked if all party agents were present at the collation center and he said yes
He was asked if he submitted a report to INEC and his Party and he said yes and that the reports are with his party
He was asked if how many polling unit in LGA and he said 116 and he said he visited most of them, minimum of three in each ward and that he has 10 wards
He was asked where inec office is in his LGA is he said Das Municipal.
PDP and Atiku/Obi called witness number 169 on the witness list
But the Buhari lawyer argued that the time for closing is 4pm but the Judge also said that they also agreed that they were supposed to go on break by 1:00pm and went on break by 1:30pm and retuned by 2:30pm instead of 2:00pm
After further deliberations, the trial Judge, Justice Mohammed Garba agreed with the Buhari counsel and the court adjourned to Friday July 12th 2019.