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Tag: atiku

  • INEC deleted results on all BVAS we inspected – Atiku’s witness alleges

    INEC deleted results on all BVAS we inspected – Atiku’s witness alleges

    Mr Hitler Nwala, a witness of the  People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has told the Presidential Election Petition Court, (PEPC) that results on all the 110 BVAS machines he inspected were deleted.

    Nwala, a subpoenaed witness, made the assertion on Thursday in Abuja while giving evidence as an expert witness for the petitioners in their petition challenging the outcome of the Feb. 25 presidential election.

    The witness who was led in evidence by the petitioner’s lead counsel, Mr. Chris Uche, SAN, said that the machines inspected were only those from the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT).

    He also told the court that he was a Digital Forensic Analyst and that he didn’t know at what point the results were deleted on machines.

    Under cross-examination by counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Mr Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, the witness said that he attached a standard device used for such an exercise to the machine to arrive at the conclusion.

    When asked if he had the authority of the commission to attach an external device to the BVAS machine, the witness answered in the affirmative.

    Mahmoud further asked the witness if he was aware that inspecting only 110 machines out of 3,163 that were deployed in the FCT amounted to only 3.4 per cent of the total number of BVAS deployed in the FCT and 0.06 per cent of BVAS deployed nationwide.

    To this, the witness told the court that he only compiled the report and didn’t take out time to calculate the percentages.

    The INEC counsel attempted to give a BVAS machine to the witness to check if it was deleted as he had said in his report.

    The witness, however, said that it would be against the ethics of his profession to collect the BVAS machine in open court to check it.

    “It is professionally wrong to access a device that will be used as evidence in a court of competent jurisdiction because it will temper with the evidence.

    “We cannot access the device directly, what we do is to extract the evidence and take it for analysis.”

    Moreover, the witness told the court that since all the devices had the same model and looked the same on the outside, he couldn’t tell if it was one of the ones he inspected by merely looking at it.

    For his part, counsel to the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN told the witness that neither he nor any of his team members signed the six-volume forensic report.

    The witness, however, insisted that he signed the report as well as the certificate of compliance.

    On his part, counsel to President Bola Tinubu, Mr Wole Olanipekun, SAN confronted the witness with a portion of his report where he said that from his inspection of the machines, “nothing was intrinsically wrong with them”.

    “Were you in Abuja on the day of the presidential election?

    “If you were not in Abuja, how then can you know that there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the machines on the day of the election?”

    The witness said that he was not in Abuja and so he couldn’t have known if something went wrong with the machines on the day of the election.

    After the witness was discharged, the petitioners went further to tender Forms EC8A series from 20 local government areas of Ogun, 17 local government areas of Ondo, 27 local government areas of Jigawa, and 20 local government areas of Rivers.

    The Chairman of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned the hearing of the petition until Friday.

    Going by the pre-hearing report; Atiku and the PDP are expected to close their case on Friday.

    They had asked for three weeks to present their case which elapsed on Tuesday but because they had lost three days, one being the June 12 Democracy Day Public Holiday, the court extended their time by three days.

    NAN

  • Alleged poisoning: Atiku’s aide advises Wike to reduce consumption of Alcohol

    Alleged poisoning: Atiku’s aide advises Wike to reduce consumption of Alcohol

    Following a revelation of the Ex- Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike that his liver and kidneys failed due to “poisoning,” the Special Assistant on Public Communication to the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu, has advised the Ex- Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike to reduce his consumption of alcohol.

    Recall that Wike During a Thanksgiving on Sunday, said his liver and kidney failed after he was poisoned at PDP’s Secretariat in 2018

    However, Shaibu said Wike had always been open about his love for alcohol, especially whiskey, which he has even admitted to drinking in the early hours of the day.

    He said that given the rate of Wike’s drinking, he likely had alcohol poisoning and not food poisoning.

    “Governor Wike has always been open about his intense and indubitable love for whiskey. He even said back in March that he was sipping a 40-year-old whiskey with his friends while watching Atiku and others protesting on TV at 11 am.

    “Governor Wike has also been seen drinking and dancing in videos, including one he did with former Governor Rochas Okorocha. If Wike was indeed poisoned and his organs failed, he ought to be a teetotaller by now and reduce his drinking.

    “I am not a medical doctor, but it is general knowledge that excessive alcohol consumption leads to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, digestive problems; and cancer of the breast, mouth, throat, oesophagus, voice box, liver, colon and rectum,” he said.

    “Other ailments associated with excessive drinking include: weakening of the immune system, increasing the chances of getting sick; learning and memory problems, including dementia and poor sexual performance. Wike should look inwards. Let us assume that he was poisoned by food. Was his hoarse and husky voice also caused by food poisoning?”

     

  • June 12: Bwala knocks Tinubu for not recognizing Atiku, Obi

    June 12: Bwala knocks Tinubu for not recognizing Atiku, Obi

    One of the  spokespersons for the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign, Daniel Bwala, has come hard on president Bola Tinubu for leaving out Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi in his Monday Democracy Day speech.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu the winner of the February 25 presidential election, with DP’s Atiku and Obi of the Labour Party came second and third, respectively.

    Recall that both Atiku and Obi are still challenging the outcome of the result in court.

    However,  Bwala still couldn’t believe that Tinubu couldn’t recognize them on his May 29th broadcast.

    “How in the world could you talk about democracy and the fight for democracy in Nigeria without mentioning Atiku Abubakar?” Bwala asked during his Wednesday appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

    “The President did not mention Atiku Abubakar, and that, to me, is not reflective of the unity posture.”

    Asked what his expectations were of Tinubu with regard to the recognition of the former vice president, Bwala held that the day was a celebration of the life and struggles of Chief Moshood “MKO” Abiola.

    The annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election was presumably won by Abiola. In 2018, former President Muhammadu Buhari declared the date as the country’s official Democracy Day, no longer May

    “You need to know that the person who stepped down for Abiola in the primaries was Atiku Abubakar and the struggle continued,” Bwala said.

    “So, I thought that he should be able to extend that olive branch. Even Peter Obi; he ought to have mentioned Peter Obi because Peter Obi, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, represented a move we’ve never had, a third force. We’ve never had a third force.”

    According to him, there were previous efforts to form a third force that were not as successful.

    Obi’s party however managed to win the presidential election in constituencies considered to be strongholds of his opponents, including Lagos State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    “Coming at a time when the younger generation said they wanted a new thing, I felt that [Obi’s feat] was contributing to democratic ideals,” the PDP campaign spokesman argued.

    “He didn’t say anything about the EndSARS. The EndSARS was a struggle of young people. These are acts and moves that entrench democracy.”

  • Court admits statisticians’ reports in Atiku ‘s petition

    Court admits statisticians’ reports in Atiku ‘s petition

    The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) on Wednesday admitted in evidence statistics reports of inspectors of the election.

    In a petition marked CA/PEPC/05/2023, Atiku Abubakar and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are challenging the outcome of the Feb.25 presidential election which brought Tinubu as the winner.

    The respondents are Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC president Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The petitioners’s 21st witness PW21) Samuel Oduntan is a statistician and a subpoenaed witness.

    He adopted his statement on oath which was objected by all the respondents when led in evidence by Eyitayo Jegede, SAN who represented Abubakar and the PDP.

    Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN represented INEC, Wole Olanipakun, SAN represented Tinubu and Lateef Fagbemi, SAN represented APC.

    The respondents’ counsel objected to the tendering of the statistician ‘s report from the inspection of the election, alongside the three appendages.

    INEC reserved their position on the demonstration of the content of the documents.

    Olujimi and Fagbemi told the court that their are not giving any consent because they objected to the admissibility of the documents

    They added that the petitioners never mentioned that the documents would be demonstrated.

    Mahmoud however, prayed the court to provide them with the soft copy of the flash drive of the documents.

    In response, Jegede asked for INEC to provide them with the voters ‘ register and the court also asked for it too.

    Earlier, Jegede told the court that the evidence in chief of the witness be taken today while the cross examination would be tomorrow.

    All the respondents ‘counsel confirmed that they all met and agreed on that.

    Meanwhile, the five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned until Thursday for cross examination of the witness and further hearing of the petition.

  • Wike will soon inflict Tinubu’s administration with frequent visit – Atiku’s aide

    Wike will soon inflict Tinubu’s administration with frequent visit – Atiku’s aide

    Daniel Bwala, a spokesman for Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has reacted to the frequent visits of a former PDP governor to the presidential Villa.

    Following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inauguration, former governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State visited the Presidential Villa three times in one week, with the latest being yesterday.

    Wike visited Tinubu in the company of the PDP G-5 governors on Thursday.

    Bwala wrote via his Twitter handle: “There is a former governor of the PDP that frequents Presidential villa daily like a bus conductor. He will soon inflict the administration with his toxic equity, fairness, and justice poison.”

     

  • INEC, APC, Tinubu oppose Atiku’s subpoenaed witnesses

    INEC, APC, Tinubu oppose Atiku’s subpoenaed witnesses

    The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), President Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress, (APC) on Wednesday in Abuja, opposed the appearance of subpoenaed witnesses of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) to testify.

    The respondents appeared unsettled when the petitioners called the first subpoenaed witness saying they were not prepared to cross-examine the witness having been served the witness statement only on Wednesday.

    The respondents, through their counsel, objected to the taking of the evidence of the witness who was said to be an Ad hoc staff of INEC during the Feb. 25 presidential election.

    Counsel to the petitioners, Mr. Chris Uche, SAN, informed the court that the petitioners had three subpoenaed witnesses and went ahead to call the first one.

    As soon as the witness entered the witness box, counsel to INEC, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, vehemently opposed to the witness giving his testimony.

    According to Mahmoud, I was only served this morning with the statement of the witness and as such, I  have to study the statement in order to do a thorough cross-examination.

    He insisted that the witness could not be taken since he was said to be an Adhoc staff of the Commission and as such he would have to go and look at INEC records to enable him to confirm the status of the witness and prepare adequately.

    Counsel for Tinubu, Akin Olujimi, SAN, and that of the  APC, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, also said they were served with the witness statement on Thursday and needed time to peruse it for proper cross-examination.

    Attempts by Uche to insist that the witness be taken saying ordinarily, subpoenaed witness statements didn’t have to be front-loaded were futile as the respondents insisted that they had to peruse the statements.

    Uche pleaded with the court to take at least one of the subpoenaed witnesses saying there was nothing strange in the statement to warrant an adjournment.

    Following the respondent’s insistence, Uche urged the court to adjourn until Thursday for the three subpoenaed witnesses to give their testimony.

    Earlier, the petitioners called their 11th witness, Mr. Ndubisi Nwobu, the PDP Collation Agent for Anambra.

    Nwobu, in his evidence-in-chief, told the court that he was forced to sign Form EC8D because it became evident that if he did not sign, INEC would not give him a copy.

    Form EC8D is the result sheet for states.

    Under cross-examination by Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, the witness told the court that although the election was peaceful at his polling unit, INEC officials refused to upload the results to INEC Result Verification Portal, (IREV).

    ” The election went well in my polling unit and the result was entered but we insisted that the result be uploaded on IREV, all efforts proved abortive.

    “There was no problem at the polling units, it was at the ward level that magic started happening, “the witness said.

    He also told the court that he visited about 30 out of the 4,720 polling units in Anambra.

    Also while being cross-examined by Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, counsel to the APC, the witness told the court that his major grouse with the election was that there was no real-time upload of results on IREV as was promised by the INEC chairman.

    The witness also told Mr Akin Olujimi, SAN, counsel to President Bola Tinubu that Labour Party won the election in Anambra.

    When the petitioner attempted to call witnesses subpoenaed from INEC, all the respondents objected on the grounds that they had just been served with the witness statements and they needed to peruse them.

    The Chairman of the Court, Justice Haruna Tsammani thereafter adjourned proceedings until Thursday to allow the respondents study the witness statements of the subpoenaed witnesses for seamless cross-examination.

    The respondents in the petition marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023, are; INEC, President Tinubu, and the APC.

    Atiku and the PDP are before the court to challenge the outcome of the Feb. 25 presidential election on the grounds that it was invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

    The petitioners claim that President Tinubu was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast during the election.

    NAN

  • INEC yet to give us vital documents after collecting N6.69m – Atiku alleges

    INEC yet to give us vital documents after collecting N6.69m – Atiku alleges

    The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Wednesday, blamed the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), for clogging the wheel of progress in the prosecution of his petition.

    Atiku told the Presidential Election Petition Court, (PEPC) on Wednesday in Abuja that inspite of paying N6.69 million to the commission for certified true copies of documents he intends to tender in evidence, the commission failed to make the documents available.

    Speaking through his lawyer, Mr Chris Uche, SAN, the petitioner said that it was discouraging for the commission to say that some of document they paid for were outside Abuja.

    “We thought all these documents will be made available to us and we wont have to go to the states to collect.”

    Uche then proceeded to tender certified true copies of documents for 10 out of 21 local government areas of Kogi which were the only documents the commission had made available for the day.

    The petitioners also tendered form EC8D for Anambra state.

    Form EC8D is the form for election result from the state.

    Abubakar asked the PEPC to declare him Nigeria’s president-elect.

    Alternatively, Atiku urged the court to cancel the election and order a fresh election due to alleged irregularities that marred the Feb. 25 poll in thousands of polling units.

    These are part of the seven prayers anchored on five grounds in the petition he filed against the victory of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

  • After losing suit against Atiku, Keyamo heads to appeal court

    After losing suit against Atiku, Keyamo heads to appeal court

    Former Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo, has decided to go on appeal over his suit seeking the arrest and prosecution former president Vice president, Atiku Abubakar

    Yesterday, the Federal High Court in Abuja had dismissed the suit which Mr Keyamo, then a spokesperson for the Presidential Campaign Council of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), filed in January against Atiku

    The judge, James Omotosho, dismissed the suit with an award of N10 million fine against Keyamo,
    describing the suit as frivolous and vexatious.

    The judge ordered him to pay N5 million to each of Atiku and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).

    Keyamo while reacting to the Judgement in statement signed by the assistant head of the law firm, John Ainetor, said the former Minister disagreed with the judge’s reasoning that the law enforcement agencies he asked the court to compel to investigate Atiku were not given enough time.

    “We are immediately filing an appeal against the said decision to the Court of Appeal as the struggle on this issue continues,” Mr Keyamo said in a statement released on his behalf by his law firm on Monday.

    “Earlier today (Monday), a Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the case filed by Festus Keyamo, SAN, CON, against the candidate of the PDP in the last Presidential Election, Alhaji ATIKU Abubakar over the SPV saga principally because the court was of the opinion that the law-enforcement agencies were not given enough time to commence investigations before the suit was filed, amongst other sundry reasons.

    “Our client respectfully disagrees with the reasons for the said decision because the law-enforcement agencies did not indicate their willingness to commence investigations, even if they were given more time. We want to establish a legal principle that the society cannot wait as infinitum for law-enforcement agencies to do their statutory duties. The suit was designed to prompt the agencies to show their READINESS to investigate,” the statement which Mr Keyamo tweeted via his verified Twitter handle read in part.

    Keyamo had in the suit through his counsel, Festus Ukpe, sought an order of the court to compel the Code Of Conduct Bureau (CCB), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and ICPC to invite or arrest Atiku, Nigeria’s former vice president.

    He asked the court to order the agencies to investigate and prosecute Atiku based on the claims contained in an affidavit deposed to by one Michael Achimugu, alleging that Atiku used a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to corruptly enrich himself while he was Vice President of Nigeria.

    In response to the suit, Atiku, through his counsel Mr Ozekhome, raised a preliminary objection to the suit, contending that Mr Keyamo lacked the basis to institute the said suit, having failed to disclose what he suffered over and beyond other members of the public.

    Mr Ozekhome further contended in his written brief that Mr Keyamo did not disclose any wrong done to him by Atiku or what damage he had suffered. He described the former minister as a busybody and meddlesome interloper, as the entire suit disclosed no reasonable cause of action whatsoever.

    Arguing the matter before the judge, Benson Igbanoi, a lawyer from Mr Ozekhome’s law firm, also argued that the suit constituted a gross abuse of office, the plaintiff being a public officer occupying a public office and using public funds to file and prosecute same.

     

     

  • I signed the result sheet for Nasarawa under duress – PDP witness tells panel

    I signed the result sheet for Nasarawa under duress – PDP witness tells panel

    A witness of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ibrahim Hamza on Monday told the Presidential Election Petition Court  (PEPC) that he signed the election results of Nasarawa State under duress.

    The witness said this at the continuation of hearing of petition filed by Atiku Abubakar and his Party PDP.

    They are challenging the Feb. 25 presidential election results which brought president Bola Tinubu as duly elected president.

    The respondents in the petition marked CA/PEPC/05/2023 are Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The witness who is the 10th witness called by the PDP, said he is a human resources consultant and represented his party, PDP as Nasarawa collation officer.

    Being cross-examined by the counsel for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abubakar Mahmoud, the witness told the court that he signed the results under duress.

    ”I did not state this in my witness statement of oath because I know a day like this would come.

    ”The results were altered after I appended my name and signed.

    ”Due process was not followed…I had to sign to obtain a copy of the results because there was this intimidation that if I did not sign, I would not be given the result” he said.

    He said that he voted but the results were not uploaded because the Bimodal Voters Accrediton system (BVAS) failed.

    Similarly, Abiye Sekibo , 7th witness (PW7) told the court during cross-examination by counsel for Tinubu, Akin Olujimi SAN that the results from polling units across the state were not captured on the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System.

    Sekibo, is PDP’s state collation officer for Rivers

    He said, ” All the polling units I went to…they could not upload the results.”

    He however admitted that his candidate did not poll up to 25% of votes in the Federal Capital Territory.

    Abraham David testified as the 9th witness (PW9) and was the FCT collation officer, he also said his candidate did not win 25 per cent votes in FCT.

    Lastly, Mohammed Madaki, PDP chairman for FCT testified as the 8th witness (PW8).

    Meanwhile, the five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned the further hearing of the petition until tomorrow.

    The pre-hearing session told the panel that the are calling 100 witnesses to prove their petition.

  • NASS leadership: Don’t be part of a rubber stamp assembly, Atiku cautions lawmakers-elect

    NASS leadership: Don’t be part of a rubber stamp assembly, Atiku cautions lawmakers-elect

    Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has tasked National Assembly members under the platform of the PDP to hold the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led federal government to account while performing their duties and avoid being part of a rubber stamp legislature.

    The PDP flag bearer in the last general elections disclosed this during a retreat organised for PDP members of the House of Representatives and Senators in Bauchi at the weekend, he warned the lawmakers not to be rubber-stampsfor the Tinubu government.

    “Do not be part of rubber-stamp legislative arm for those who might want to govern as dictators. Hold the government to account and in doing so, you demonstrate that you and your party are ready to govern,” he said.

    He alleged that the APC deceived Nigerians that it would be free and fair following the passage of the 2022 Electoral Act which makes provision for deployment of technology that would have made the process more transparent but proved to be otherwise.

    He assured members of the party’s support through litigations to reclaim their mandate.