Presidential Election Petition Court Hears Atiku's First Witness Against Tinubu's Victory
The Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja witnessed an important development as Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), presented his first witness on Thursday.
Atiku, who secured the second position in the February presidential election, is contesting the victory of Bola Tinubu from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the same election held on the 25th of February.
Bola Tinubu was inaugurated as Nigeria's president earlier this week, while Atiku and two other petitioners continue their separate legal cases challenging his victory.
Led by Chris Uche, Atiku's lawyer, the witness, Joe Agada, provided crucial testimony before the court's five-member panel headed by Haruna Tsammani. Agada, a retired army captain who served as the PDP's State Collation agent in Kogi during the presidential election, revealed widespread instances of electoral record manipulation by officials from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the February poll.
According to Agada, he monitored the voting process in 20 polling units across two senatorial districts in Kogi. During cross-examination by INEC's lawyer, Abdullahi Aliyu, Agada stated that the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines were manipulated during the presidential election. He also admitted to signing collated result sheets in Lokoja under duress, without providing further details about the circumstances.
Agada is just one of the 100 witnesses that Atiku plans to present in support of his petition before the court.
On Wednesday, Atiku's legal team submitted the presidential electoral documents, including those related to the local governments in Kogi State. However, objections to the admissibility of the documents were raised by Bola Tinubu and the electoral umpire, though they did not disclose their reasons and promised to do so later in the proceedings.
While lawyers from both sides agreed not to object to certified true copies of electoral documents from INEC, the respondents have opposed the admissibility of several electoral records.
Atiku's challenge to the presidential election outcome is based on allegations of INEC's manipulation of the electoral process in favor of Bola Tinubu. As the legal battle to overturn Tinubu's victory continues, the Presidential Election Petition Court remains a focal point for this contentious case.
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