Senator Dino Melaye, the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Collation Agent in the February 25 presidential election, told the Presidential Election Petition Court on Friday in Abuja that election collation errors by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, led to President Bola Tinubu’s declaration.
Melaye told the court that he had left the National Collation Centre at the International Conference Centre in Abuja because the alleged willful errors had become unpleasant and intolerable to him.
Senator Melaye appeared as a key witness for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, whose joint appeal with the Peoples Democratic Party seeks to overturn Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
The witness, who was led in his evidence-in-chief by Atiku’s lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche SAN, stated that he declined to sign the final collated results in order to avoid being a part of the alleged corruption and malpractices that consumed the collation effort.
Melae, the petition’s second star witness, stated that the results used by INEC to declare Tinubu the victor of the February 25 presidential election “were wrongly computed by INEC,” adding, “I didn’t endorse it, because I don’t endorse a fraud.”
In addition, he told the court that, other than himself, several PDP operatives in the presidential election did not sign the results at various levels.
Responding to Tinubu’s lawyer, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, the witness contended that “failure of transmission of what has been recorded is an infringement of the law.”
He emphasized that the electronic transfer of results from polling locations to the IReV is a critical component of the election process, noting that the election circle cannot be said to be complete without the IReV.
“Results are transmitted from polling units before you move to the ward collation center,” he added, adding that what was brought differed from what occurred at the state level.
Meanwhile, Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), presented further video proof on Friday to back assertions that INEC guaranteed electronic transmission of the results of the 2023 general elections.
Mrs. Ijeoma Osamor, a subpoenaed witness and staff of Daar Communication Ltd, AIT, presented a video clip comprising live speeches of INEC’s Chairman, Professor Yakubu Mahmood.
The video evidence housed on a flash drive allowed as an exhibit was also shown in open court. It displayed a live webcast of INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood assuring Nigerians of the commission’s resolve to transmit election results in real-time.
During cross-examination by APC’s lawyer, Mr Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, the witness denied knowledge of any INEC news conference where the commission informed Nigerians that the election could no longer be transmitted electronically.
Hearings in both petitions have been postponed until Monday, June 19.
