• Tribunal admits exhibits for Obi in eight more states

A witness of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in Abuja that people working for President Bola Tinubu and his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), were responsible for truncating electronic transmission of results in Rivers State.

This was as the court admitted exhibits from the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, from eight additional states, in his quest to prove rigging and other electoral malpractices led to his loss in the February 25 presidential election.

Abiye Sekibo, who was PDP coordinator in the February 25 presidential election in Rivers, said officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were restrained by agents working for Tinubu and APC from using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to upload collated results from polling units across the state.

Sekibo, who is Atiku’s seventh witness to testify before the five-member panel headed by Haruna Tsammani, said: “Agents of the second respondent (Tinubu) and third respondent (APC) ensured INEC presiding officers did not upload results of the presidential election in Rivers.”

Led in his evidence-in-chief by Atiku’s lawyer, Eyitayo Jegede, Sekibo, a former transportation minister, alleged the agents unleashed violence on voters and residents around polling units in the state.

According to him, because of violence, “INEC couldn’t upload results across the entire Rivers State”.

During cross-examination by Tinubu’s lawyer, Akin Olujinmi, Sekibo said he voted at his polling unit at Okrika Local Council.

Sekibo was asked if he knew the names of the agents, who allegedly perpetrated violence at the polls, he replied in the negative.

Similarly, APC lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, in his cross-examination, asked Sekibo how he was able to trace the identity of the agents to Tinubu and APC.

Responding, Sekibo, who said he witnessed collation of results in 20 out of over 600 polling units across the state, added that he deduced the agents’ identity from their violent actions.

He told the court: “We tried to get to Obio-Akpor Local Council but were prevented. There was violence and people were being killed.”

In an attempt to prove a case of electoral fraud and irregularities, Atiku had, through his lawyer, led witnesses to testify before the tribunal.

The first was Sekibo, followed by two other witnesses, including Federal Capital Territory PDP chairman, Mohammed Babaji, and Abraham David, a resident of Kamajiji in the FCT.

The court adjourned hearing to today. (The Guardian)

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