There was confusion Saturday at the ongoing governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lafia the Nasarawa State capital, as the witness of the ruling All Progressive Congress APC, Aliyu Bello testified Against his party.
Bello, the Secretary of APC, Nasarawa State was the first witness called by the 2nd respondent where he was cross-examined by the petitioner’s counsel and in the process , he was unable to point out the forms used to allegedly cancel the election results at the Polling Units level in Ashige Ward where the PDP and its candidate Dr David Ombugadu won the election but which scores were wrongly excluded.
The witness under cross-examination also contradicted himself when he said that the election in Ashige Ward was cancelled due to violence contrary to alleged over-voting which was the reason given in the documents tendered by the 2nd Respondent
The witness also testified that the results were wrongly calculated and captured, even though he initially agreed that the results were properly collated. He still claims that it was wrongly collated. And he never agreed that BVAS was used in any of these areas.
During a crossed examination by the Petitioner, the APC witness agreed that elections are only won in the polling units base on the Form EC8A results from the polling units.
He also agreed that INEC BVAS IREV is the only source where results can be properly collated.
The APC witness came up to claim that he doesn’t know from ECGPU40. Based on his confession, it is obvious that elections were only cancelled in the polling units, not in the Electoral ward.
Another witness, Audu Sule also contradicts himself because he was unable to identify the forms used to allegedly cancel election results.
After today’s proceedings, the sitting was adjourned to 24th, 26th & 27th August 2023 for continuation of defence.
