Connect with us

News

Presidential Poll Dispute: 5 INEC Ad-hoc Staff To Testify Against Tinubu

Published

on

Five ad-hoc staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, have been okayed to testify as special witnesses in the petition that a former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, filed to challenge the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.

The INEC ad-hoc staff members, who participated in the conduct of the disputed presidential election, were subpoenaed to appear before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC

Atiku, who came second in the presidential contest that held on February 25, had in the joint petition he filed with his party, alleged that the election was rigged in favour of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

The former Vice President, in his 66-paged petition, accused the electoral Commission of installing a third-party device he said was used to intercept and switch results of the presidential election in favour of the APC and its candidate, Bola Tinubu.

He further alleged that INEC had prior to the election, redeployed its in-house ICT expert, Mr. Chidi Nwafor, and replaced him with an IT Consultant that helped it to install the third-party mechanism.

Advertisement

According to Atiku, the said IT Consultant, Mr. Suleiman Farouk, ensured that the device intermediated between the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the IRev Portal, known as Device Management System (DMS).

READ ALSO: I’ve Paid Over N6m, Yet To Receive Exhibits From INEC — Atiku

He told the court that the DMS was the software that allowed INEC’s IT Security Consultant, Mr. Farouk, to remotely control, monitor and filter data that was transmitted from the BVAS devices to the electronic collation system and the IRev platform.

“The 1st Respondent (INEC) engaged an appointee of the 2nd Respondent (Tinubu) to man and oversee the sensitive ICT Department of the 1st Respondent for the purpose of the Election.

“The Petitioners contend and shall lead evidence to show that contrary to the original design of the BVAS machine to upload data directly to the electronic collation system and the IReV portal, the 1st Respondent contrived and installed an intervening third-party device (Device Management System) which, in its ordinary usage, is meant to secure and administer the 1st Respondent’s technological ecosystem for the elections but as it relates to the Presidential Election, was used to intercept the results, quarantine and warehouse same, and filter them before releasing same to the IReV Portal.

“The 1st Respondent used the said Device Management System to manipulate the Election results in favour of the 2nd and 3rd Respondents.

Advertisement

“The Petitioners state and shall lead expert evidence to show the critical components of the 1st Respondent’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT), including but not limited to the BVAS which is an Android Device manufactured by Emperor Technologies China and supplied to the 1st Respondent by Activate Nigeria Limited,” the petitioners added.

READ ALSO: JUST IN: Tinubu In Closed-door Meeting With Govs

Consequently, at the resumed proceedings in the petition on Wednesday, lead counsel for the petitioners, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, told the court that his clients had subpoenaed five INEC ad-hoc staff members that were part of the conduct of the election to appear as witnesses and to also tender sensitive materials in evidence.

He added that out of the five witnesses, three of them were in court.

However, immediately the first subpoenaed ad-hoc staff was called into the courtroom and he mounted the witness box, lead counsel for the INEC, Mr Abubakar Mahmood, SAN, raised an objection.

INEC’s lawyer, Mahmood, SAN, told the court that he was only served with statements of the witnesses, a few minutes before the proceedings commenced, insisting that he would need time to go through the documents to be able to effectively cross-examine the witnesses.

Advertisement

Besides, INEC’s lawyer said there was also the need for him to go back to the Commission to verify and confirm the identities of the witnesses so as to ascertain if they indeed served as ad-hoc staff during the election.

Both Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, who appeared for President Tinubu, as well as counsel for the APC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, aligned themselves with the position of the INEC.

The respondents maintained that they would need time to study the statements of the witnesses that were served on them by the petitioners.

Even though Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel initially opted for a 30-minute stand down to allow the respondents to study the statements, however, it subsequently deferred further proceedings in the matter till Thursday to enable INEC’s counsel to conduct his internal enquiry.

READ ALSO: Why Nigeria Should Return To Republican Constitution – NADECO Writes Tinubu

Earlier in the proceeding, counsel for the petitioners tendered certified copies of results of the presidential election from 10 Local Government Areas, LGAs, of Kogi State, even as he presented the Chairman of the PDP in Anambra state, Mr. Ndubuisi Nwobu, to testify as the 11th witness in the matter.

Advertisement

Nwobu told the court that he served as state collation officer for the PDP during the election, adding that in about 30 polling units that he visited, results of the election were not uploaded to INEC’s I-Rev portal in real-time.

The witness told the court that he was forced to sign the result of the election by INEC officials that threatened that they would not give him a copy unless he signed.

According to him, “Every effort made to upload the results to the I-Rev portal failed. It was at the ward level that magic started happening,” the witnesses stated, adding that it if not for his swift intervention, some INEC officials would have been manhandled by angry electorates.

While being cross-examined by APC’s lawyer, Fagbemi, SAN, the witness, said he wrote a letter after the election to complain about all the anomalies he observed, as well as the manifest noncompliance with the Electoral Act.

My complaint was not about the BVAs, but that results were not uploaded to the I-Rev portal as we were promised extensively by the INEC Chairman,” the witness added.

Atiku, is among other reliefs, praying for the court to declare that he was the valid winner of the presidential election, even as he applied for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that was issued to President Tinubu by INEC.

Advertisement

Advertisement
Comments

News

Shaibu Impeachment: Panel Fixes Date For Commencement Of Sitting

Published

on

By

The seven-man panel set up by the Chief Judge of Edo State, Daniel Okungbowa, to probe the impeachment petition against deputy governor of the state, Philip Shaibu, has fixed April 3, 2024 for the commencement of its sitting.

Administrative secretary of the panel, George Odidi, disclosed this in a statement dated March 28, 2024 and made available to newsmen in Benin City.

Odidi said the panel would hold its sittings at Judges Conference Room, New High Court Complex, Benin City.

READ ALSO: CJ Has Seven Days To Set Up Panel On Shaibu – Edo Assembly

He said parties or their counsel are expected to be present while the complainant is expected to be ready to present its case.

Advertisement

The statement reads, “Take notice that consequent upon the inauguration of the above panel by His Lordship the Hon. Chief Judge of Edo State, Hon. Justice D.I. Okungbowa in line with section 188 subsection 5 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the said Panel shall commence sitting at Judges Conference room, New High Court Complex, Benin City on Wednesday 3″day of April, 2024 at 10:00Am prompt.

READ ALSO: Again, Shaibu Loses Bid To Stop Impeachment

“Parties and /or their counsel are expected to be present on that day while the complainant is expected to be ready to present it’s case on that day.”

The Chief Judge of Edo State, Daniel Okungbowa, had on Friday, March 22, 2024, constituted a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations in the impeachment notice served on the deputy governor of the state, Philip Shaibu, in line with the resolution of the State House of Assembly.

Members of the panel are Justice S.A. Omonua (rtd), Professor Theresa Akpoghome, Oghogho Ayodele Oviasu, Surveyor Andrew Oliha, Idris Abdulkareen , President Aigbokhian and Mariam Erakhoba Ilavbare.

 

Advertisement

Continue Reading

News

I Was Tied For Three Days, Abducted Lagos Editor Recounts Ordeal

Published

on

By

The abducted Editor of FirstNews Newspaper, Segun Olatunji, on Thursday, recounted his ordeal at the hands of the military personnel who abducted him from his Lagos home.

Military authorities had earlier on Thursday, yielded to pressure and released Olatunji, who was abducted from his home in Lagos State on Friday, March 15, 2024.

The PUNCH confirmed that he was released to some media stakeholders, including Yomi Odunuga of The Nation newspaper and Iyobosa Uwugiaren of Thisday Newspaper in Abuja after sustained pressure from the media.

They were asked to guarantee that they would make Olatunji available if needed again.

The International Press Institute, the Nigeria Guild of Editors, and Olatunji’s employers had in separate statements faulted his incarceration, asking authorities to either release the editor or charge him to court.

Advertisement

READ ALSO: INEC Disowns LP’s National Convention

Narrating his ordeal after his release at a press briefing organised by the leaderships of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Nigeria Union of Journalists and IPI in Abuja, Olatunji said he was blindfolded and flown to the Federal Capital Territory where he was moved to a cell in handcuffs and leg chains for almost three days.

He said, “Someone came claiming to be from the military. He identified himself as Colonel Lawal. Immediately, he seized my phones.

“I went to the room to dress up. By the time I got downstairs, I saw soldiers inside the compound taking positions. Outside the gate, I saw about three vehicles with Air Force personnel, Army, Defence Intelligence Agency, and others all fully armed.

READ ALSO:Israel Bombs Gaza, Fights Hamas Around Hospitals

“I was handcuffed and taken straight to the office of the National Air Defence Corps where we waited for three hours. I did not know that they were waiting for an aircraft to pick me up to Abuja.

Advertisement

“When the aircraft landed, I was blindfolded and moved to the aircraft, and we landed in Abuja shortly. I was leg cuffed also. They removed my clothes and I was left with my boxers. I was taken to Cell 9.

“There, I was left with leg and handcuffs. And at a point, one of the officers came and tightened the right leg and the right hand, and I was there groaning in pain. They did not loosen it until about two or three days after.

“Up till now, I could still feel the pains in my hands and legs.”

READ ALSO: Man Stabs Four To Death In US

Olatunji said those behind his ordeal were close to the government based on the questions he was asked.

He added, “They were asking me questions about certain stories that FirstNews had published.

Advertisement

“They first told me that I was one of those abusing the Chief of Defence Intelligence (Major General Emmanuel Undiandeye). They did not say much about that.”

He said they also asked him about a story FirstNews had published about the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu (Mr Femi Gbajabiamila), which he described as a “major thing”.

“That is why I told some people earlier that those behind my arrest are people in the corridors of power who are not happy with FirstNews is doing and are bent on taking their own pound of flesh,” he added.

Continue Reading

News

JUST IN: Secondus, Sekibo, Others Declare Support For Tinubu, Fubara

Published

on

By

A former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus; and members of the Presidential Campaign Council of the party for the 2023 general elections in Rivers State have declared loyalty and support for President Bola Tinubu and the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara.

A former Minister of Transportation and the Director-General, PDP-PCC Rivers State, Dr. Abiye Sekibo, made the declaration during a news briefing in Port Harcourt on Thursday.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Nigerian Lady Set To Drive From London To Lagos

Present at the briefing were Secondus; former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Austin Opara; Celestine Omehia, former deputy governor of the state, Tele Ikuru; Senator Lee Maeba; and former Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Dr. Gabriel Pidomson. among others.

The council supported the PDP presidential candidate in 2023, Atiku Abubakar, in the last elections.

Advertisement

Details later…

 

Continue Reading

Trending