About 13 Presiding Officers (POs)
in Borno and Yobe states have revealed at the Presidential Election Petitions
Tribunal sitting in Abuja that they transmitted the results of the February 23
Presidential election in their various units and wards to the official server
of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The POs disclosed this in their
respective Witness Statement of Oath in support of the petition filed by the
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar,
challenging the election of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive
Congress (APC)
They stated that the INEC had
instructed them on how to transmit the results to its server during their
training.
The position of the POs, however,
contradicted the submission of INEC who had stated in its reply to the petition
that results were not sent to its server.
Atiku had in his 139-page
petition before the tribunal stated that from the data in INEC’s server, the
true, actual and correct results showed that he (Atiku) secured a total of
18,356,732 votes against Buhari’s 16,741,430 votes.
But, INEC stated that there was
no result in its server and that the presidential election results were not
transmitted electronically.
However, in reaction to paragraph
29 of the 3rd Respondent’s reply, the petitioners said that the data and scores
in the 1st Respondent’s Server were as transmitted by the 1st Respondent’s
officials and those scores are valid, and legitimate.
Atiku, through his team of
counsel, led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), had listed about 13 Presiding Officers
from different wards in Borno State and also attached their witness statement
on oath.
All these are contained in
Atiku’s reply to the objection filed by APC, who is the 3rd respondent, to his
(Atiku’s) petition before the Presidential tribunal, wherein he is challenging
the election that produced Buhari, PremiumTimes reports.
One of the POs said, “I was
employed as an ad hoc staff and trained for three days by the 1st Respondent at
the Government College, Maiduguri, Borno State to serve as a Presiding Officer
(PO) at Waliri Polling Unit with Code 003, of Shehun Barna Ward, Borno State on
the 23rd February, 2019 Presidential and National Assembly (Senate and House of
Representatives) elections.
“The training covered the duties
of all 1st Respondent’s ad-hoc staff at the polling units and the procedure for
the conduct of election which includes accreditation, verification,
authentication, collation and transmission of results as well as the use of
Smart Card Reader (SCR), amongst others.
“At the 1st Respondent training,
we were specifically instructed that the use of the Smart Card Reader for
accreditation, verification, authentication, collation and transmission of
results is mandatory and that any election conducted without the use of the
Smart Card Reader would be invalid.
“I took part in the conduct of
the Presidential and National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives)
elections of 23rd February, 2019 where I served as the Presiding Officer (PO)
and I ensured the use of the Smart Card Reader for accreditation, verification,
authentication, collation and transmission of votes in my polling unit.
“At the end of voting, the
information on the Smart Card Reader with the results inclusive, were collated
by me in the presence of the party agents and other ad-hoc staff of the 1st
Respondent after which my Assistant Presiding Officer (AP0-1) transmitted the
result electronically in my presence to the 1st Respondent’s server, using the
Smart Card Reader (SCR) and the code provided by the 1st Respondent.”
Also, in the witness statements
of the Presiding Officer of Daza Primary School Code 001,Daze Marte Ward of
Borno State, who was coded as BU; the Presiding Officer of Mustapha Ali Bama,
Code 036, Mafoni MCC Ward, who was coded IM; the Presiding Officer of Binkalion
Code 003, Maisandari Damaturu ward Yobe, coded as AB and APO of Kafan Sarki
Code 007, Yabir-Gujba of Yobe state, coded as AW; they all admitted that the
results of the Presidential election were transmitted electronically to INEC’s
server.
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