Headline

Tinubu: Melaye Testifies In Court, Justifies Refusal To Sign Presidential Poll Result

Published

2 years ago

June 17, 2023

Editor

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kogi State, Senator Dino Melaye, on Friday, testified as a star witness in the petition seeking to nullify President Bola Tinubu’s election.

Melaye mounted the box as the 22nd witness in the case that the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, filed against Tinubu before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja.

Led in evidence by Atiku’s lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, Melaye, who hitherto represented Kogi West in the Senate, told the court that he served as the National Collation Officer of the PDP for the presidential poll that held on February 25.

Melaye told the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel of the court that he refused to sign the final result the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, used to declare Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as winner of the presidential contest.

According to him, “the said result was wrongly computed and announced. That was why I refused to sign it because I don’t endorse fraud.”

While being cross-examined by INEC’s lawyer, Mr. Abubakar Mahmood, SAN, Melaye, told the court that though he voted in Kogi state on the election day, he immediately left for Abuja to perform the task that was assigned to him by his party.

He told the court that though the party had agents in all polling units across the federation, however, some of the agents also declined to sign copies of election results in their locations owing to widespread electoral malpractices they observed.

“My lords, it is not true that all the agents signed results of the election across the federation. Not all of them signed. I may not give you the specific details or actual number of our agents that did not sign the results in protest.”

He told the court that as lawmaker that was involved in the amendment of the Electoral Act, he knew that the law made it mandatory that results from polling units, should be electronically transmitted to INEC’s IReV portal.

Alleging that result of the presidential election was manipulated, the PW-22, told the court that evidence at the disposal of the Atiku and the PDP, established that results of the election in the IReV portal, was different from what was announced by the INEC.

“My lords, exhibits have shown that result on the IReV was at variance with what was announced.

“What was brought to Abuja by State Returning Officers was totally different from what transpired in the states,” he added.

Asked if his evidence before the court was based on what he was told by other agents of the party, Melaye, said: “As a National Collation Officer of my party, I was just like the INEC Chairman, who even though he was not all over the country, but he still announced results he received from all over the country.

“So, my statement on oath before this court was based on what I personally experienced and reports from our agents, as well as from our Situation Room.

“We received information from agents all over the country and some of them were live feed, with the aid of technology.”

Asked if he would be surprised to know that his statement on oath was the same thing, word for word, with a statement by another witness in the matter, Melaye, replied: “My lords, there is no way I could know what another person stated. I don’t have celestial powers. I cannot be surprised about what I don’t know.”

On the allegation that INEC deployed a device management system that quarantined and allocated votes in Tinubu’s favour, Melaye, said he got to know about the said device through a press statement the INEC issued before the election.

“Physically, I did not see the mechanism, but I saw a statement released by INEC, where it narrated that scenario.”

Asked if he never considered that such allegation could be based on speculation, the witness, said: “With the statement coming from INEC, I do not see it as speculation.”

Asked how he got information to back his allegation that results of the election were manipulated in Borno, Benue, Kano and Lagos state, Melaye, said: “My lords, I was in those states, technically, because there was live feed from our agents and I was viewing what was happening.”

While also being cross examined by President Tinubu’s lawyer, Melaye, Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, the former lawmaker insisted that INEC’s failure to transmit results of the presidential election, was an infringement of the law.

However, he noted that ordinarily, delay in transmission of the results would not have posed a problem if they would not be manipulated along the process.

“Ideally, such delay is not supposed to change the results, but we can all see that this election was not an ideal situation.”

He told the court that the petitioners engaged a statistician that helped them to establish that the presidential election was rigged with “massive votes deducted” from Atiku.

Answering questions from APC’s lawyer, Mr. Afolabi Fashanu, SAN, Melaye, further maintained that “there were unlawful allocation of votes to the 2nd Defendant (Tinubu),” using a technology he said was imported from China.

Meanwhile, shortly after he was discharged from the witness box, counsel for the Petitioners, Chief Uche, SAN, tendered in evidence, certified copies of polling unit results from 13 Local Government Areas in Nasarawa state.

He told the court that though INEC was subpoenaed to produce the said results contained in Forms EC8A, from 26 states, it, however, only brought that of Nasarawa state.

More so, Uche, SAN, also certified copies of INEC’s Forms EC40G from Nasarawa state, which he said was the summary of polling units where elections did not hold, was disrupted or outrightly cancelled.

The Justice Tsammani-led panel adjourned further hearing in the matter till Monday.
VANGUARD

Headline

Russia Hits Ukraine With 85 Drones, One Missile

Published

9 hours ago

August 16, 2025

Editor

Russia launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv said Saturday, hours after Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump held their Alaska talks.

The highly anticipated meeting in the remote US state ended with no breakthrough in halting Russia’s more than three-year-long Ukraine invasion.

Ukraine’s air force said Moscow had “attacked with an Iskander-M ballistic missile and 85 Shahed-type” drones, while also attacking “frontline areas” in four regions.

In its daily report, the air force said the attacks took place “on the night of August 16” and started in the evening of August 15 — when Putin and Trump held their negotiations.

Kyiv said its air defences shot down 61 of the drones.

The Trump-Putin summit ended with no ceasefire announcement, despite the West pressing the Kremlin for months to commit to a halt in fighting.

Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, has not yet publicly reacted to the talks.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched by Putin in February 2022, has killed thousands.

AFP

Headline

Trump, Putin Make No Breakthrough On Ukraine Deal, End Summit

Published

9 hours ago

August 16, 2025

Editor

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin made no breakthrough on Ukraine at their high-stakes summit on Friday, pointing to areas of agreement and rekindling a friendship but offering no news on a ceasefire.

After an abrupt ending to three hours of talks with aides, Trump and Putin offered warm words but took no questions from reporters, highly unusual for the media-savvy US president.

“We’re not there yet, but we’ve made progress. There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said.

He called the meeting “extremely productive” with “many points” agreed, although he did not offer specifics.

“There are just a very few that are left; some are not that significant, one is probably the most significant,” Trump said without elaborating.

Putin also spoke in general terms of cooperation in a joint press appearance that lasted just 12 minutes.

“We hope that the understanding we have reached will… pave the way for peace in Ukraine,” Putin said.

As Trump mused about a second meeting, Putin smiled and said in English: “Next time in Moscow.”

The former KGB agent quickly tried to flatter Trump, who has voiced admiration for the Russian leader in the past.

Putin told Trump he agreed with him that the Ukraine war, which Putin ordered, would not have happened if Trump were president instead of Joe Biden.

Trump, for his part, again complained of a “hoax” that Russia intervened to help him in the 2016 election, a finding backed by US intelligence.

Before the summit, Trump had warned of “severe consequences” if Russia did not accept a ceasefire.

But when asked about those consequences during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity after the talks, Trump said that “because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now.”

The friendly reception contrasted with Trump’s berating of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he met him at the White House in February.

Trump earlier said he sought a three-way meeting with Zelensky but did not announce one at the summit.

Trump said he would now consult Zelensky as well as NATO leaders, who have voiced unease about the US leader’s outreach to Putin.

“Now it’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done,” Trump said in the Fox News interview after the summit.

Putin warned Ukraine and European countries to “not create any obstacles” and not “make attempts to disrupt this emerging progress through provocation or behind-the-scenes intrigues.”

Trump invited Putin just a week ago and ensured there was some carefully choreographed drama for their first in-person meeting since 2019.

The two leaders arrived in their respective presidential jets and descended on the tarmac of an air base, with Trump clapping as Putin appeared.

US military might was on display with a B-2 stealth bomber flying overhead, as a reporter shouted audibly to Putin, “Will you stop killing civilians?”

Putin, undaunted, grinned widely as Trump took the unusual step of escorting him into “The Beast,” the secure US presidential limousine, before a meeting in a room before a screen that said, in English only, “Pursuing Peace.”

Putin smiled and joked with Russian reporters on the visit, a landmark for a leader who is facing an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court related to the Ukraine war, which has killed tens of thousands of people.

Russia, in recent days, has made battlefield gains that could strengthen Putin’s hand in any ceasefire negotiations, although Ukraine announced, as Putin was flying in, that it had retaken several villages.

Trump had insisted he would be firm with Putin, after coming under heated criticism for appearing cowed during a 2018 summit in Helsinki.

While he was travelling to Alaska, the White House announced that Trump had scrapped a plan to see Putin alone, and he instead held the talks alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his roving envoy Steve Witkoff.

Zelensky was not included and has refused pressure from Trump to surrender territory seized by Russia.

“It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America,” Zelensky said in a social media post.

Headline

Russia, Ukraine War: Trump Rules Out Immediate Ceasefire, Pushes For Peace Deal

Published

9 hours ago

August 16, 2025

Editor

US President Donald Trump early Saturday ruled out an immediate ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine after his inconclusive summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, saying a direct peace agreement would end the war.

The White House and Kremlin leaders pointed to areas of agreement during their three hours of talks in Alaska, but offered no breakthrough on a ceasefire in the conflict that has left tens of thousands dead and caused widespread destruction in Ukraine.

“A great and very successful day in Alaska!” Trump proclaimed on his Truth Social platform hours after touching down in Washington.

“The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late-night phone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and various European Leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO.”

He said it was determined by all that the best way to end the “horrific war… is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often do not hold up.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier he will go to Washington for a meeting with the US leader on Monday, which Trump confirmed would be held in the Oval Office.

“If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin,” Trump added, without specifying whether it would be a three-way meet.

“Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.”

The war went on meanwhile with Ukraine announcing that Russia had launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile during the night. Russia said it had taken two more villages in Ukraine.

Zelensky voiced support for Trump’s proposals in an earlier social media post.

“We support President Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the USA, and Russia. Ukraine emphasises that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this,” he wrote.