Witnesses of the People Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Senator Dino Melaye, in the Kogi State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal have failed to substantiate allegation of disruption of the Kogi West Senatorial election in the state.
The PDP candidate had in his petition before the Tribunal alleged irregularities in the November 30, 2019, senatorial election in the state.
Some of the witnesses called before the Tribunal had also in their statement before the Tribunal, alleged irregularities, but their testimonies on Wednesday contradicted their claim that the election was marred with irregularities.
One of the witnesses, Ayodele Olayinka, an artisan, admitted that there was no disruption of the election process.
According to him, no one tampered with the ballot paper of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, during the election.
Another witness, a member of the House of Representatives, Abiodun Aremu, told the Tribunal that out of the five wards, he has complaints against polling unit 02 in the ward.
He, however, alleged that there was under-voting but failed to prove the allegation before the Tribunal.
He told the Tribunal that there was no complaint from voter at the polling unit where he voted.
At the earlier sitting of the Tribunal headed by Justice Isa Sambo, one of the witnesses, Salihu Muhammed, denied ever making statements that he signed the result sheet of his collation centre at gun point.
Muhammed, who was being crossed examined by counsel for Senator Smart Adeyemi, Dapo Otitoju, said the statement on oath which bears his signature was prepared by his lawyer and not by himself.
Another witness, Useni Muhammad, from Odarki Ward who claimed to be a retired civil servant, stunned the court when he said he couldn’t read.
He also said it was an ‘error’ on his part to have signed the statement on oath when he couldn’t comprehend what the lawyer prepared for him.
He said his statement admitting to mayhem during the election was due to hearsay .
Another witness, Abubakar Alhasan, while being cross examined by counsel for the INEC, Chris Alashy, who said he was a student, sent the court to hilarious mode when he admitted that he was still an admission seeker.
Alhasan again said though he was the collation agent for PDP in his polling unit, but the result was signed by his colleague, whose name he has now forgotten.
Two other witnesses, Suraju Adamu from Giriyan, Kogi Local Government Area, and Ohiko Muhammad from Ohiko in Kotonkarfi, Kogi Local Government Area, claimed they used calculator to reconcile the error his agents made at the poling and denied being the person that signed some of the polling documents.
The Tribunal has been adjourned to March 27, for cross examination of the witnesses.
