Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and his political party on Friday presented Senator Dino Melaye, the Kogi State governorship candidate of the party, as their 22nd witness at the Presidential Election Petition Court.
The witness who is also a former Kogi West Senator, was PDP’s National Collation Officer during the February 25 Presidential Election, hence, he is a special witness.
Abubakar Mahmoud, lawyer for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), described Melaye as a popular and entertaining Nigerian, a statement which the witness responded to, saying that he was a politician but not an entertainer.
Melaye told the court that not all the PDP agents signed the election result sheets, insisting that was an action carried out in protest adding that the results brought by the state returning officers were at variance with what happened in the states.
When the INEC’s lawyer asked Melaye if he was aware that his witness statement was similar to those of other witnesses, he asked to see a copy of such statement, but the INEC lawyer failed to provide one.
The INEC lawyer, in rounding off his cross-examination, stated that Melaye stormed out of the National Collation Centre during the announcement of results, and so didn’t witness the completion of the process, but Melaye said he left in protest of the “fraudulent activity” that was taking place.
Tinubu’s lawyer, Akin Olujimi, during cross-examination asked Melaye whether failure to transmit results unto the IReV portal will change the result recorded on Form EC8A, the witness, after a bit of hesitation and by the intervention of the Court, said “No”.
The witness emphasized that the result declared by INEC was wrong, however, he concedes that he didn’t include as part of his witness statement the alternative, correct outcome of the election.
He said that he noted the inconsistencies, and cancellations in the results uploaded unto the IReV portal, adding these constituted reasons agents refused to sign result sheets.
According to him, electronic transmission of results is what validates the Electoral Act, 2022, adding that that is the main difference meant to transform the country’s electoral process.
During cross-examination by lawyer for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Afolabi Fashanu, Melaye affirmed that his written statement on oath clearly states the number of votes wrongly allocated to President Bola Tinubu.
However, on votes deducted in favour of the APC Presidential candidate, he said that was noted in words and not figures.
When asked why he didn’t mention “live feeds” in his witness statement, Melaye established that he had certification in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and that “all videos are live, depends on when you play them”.
