By Daniel Edu
The ongoing trial of the election fraud case involving the Nasarawa state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal (GEPT) took an intriguing turn Thursday as Governor A.A. Sule appeared as the second respondent’s lead counsel’s first witness.
The witness, Ishaq Abubakar Dan’azumi, hailing from Wuse ward and also serving as the APC Ward Agent for the Awe Local Government Area (LGA), contradicted earlier testimonies by alleging that APC votes were not reduced, but rather, the votes for PDP were inflated.
Under cross-examination, the PDP Lead Counsel, Dr. Okutepa, questioned Dan’azumi about his endorsement of the ward results. Dan’azumi confirmed his signature and stated that the results were accurately recorded from form EC8As to form EC8BS. He further revealed that APC had not filed any petitions regarding vote reductions or additional votes for PDP.
The second witness, Abdullahi Hashim Danlami, who acted as the APC Ward Agent for Makwakiji Electoral ward in Awe LGA, testified that the elections were conducted peacefully and without incident. He raised concerns about discrepancies in the results from one polling unit (PU 005), where APC votes were allegedly reduced, and PDP votes were increased. Danlami stated that he had reported this to the INEC Collation officer, and regardless of his signature, the results would remain valid.
During cross-examination by the PDP Lead Counsel, doubts were cast on Danlami’s claim of reporting the incident to the INEC Collation officer at the Ward level. The Lead Counsel highlighted the absence of this complaint in Danlami’s witness statement, implying that he might not have had concrete evidence of the situation. It was also revealed that his knowledge of the polling unit events was mostly based on verbal information.
Abdullahi Jalal Usman, from Akiri ward of Awe LGA, gave testimony affirming the proper use of BVAS Machines and the uploading of results to the IREV platform by INEC. However, he noted errors in the calculation of results for some units, where both APC and PDP scores were miscalculated. Despite this, Usman praised INEC for its overall conduct.
The subsequent cross-examination by the PDP Lead Counsel exposed that Usman was not the APC ward Agent as claimed, and his understanding of the results was influenced by his lawyer’s presentation in court. His credibility was questioned as he demonstrated limited knowledge of the actual polling unit occurrences.
Ahmed Abubakar Sarki, a witness from Keffi LGA, confirmed the use of BVAS Machines and result uploading to IREV. He alleged that the results from two polling units, Angwan Nupawa 006 and Angwan Yorubawa 017, displayed vote alterations: a decrease in APC votes and an increase in PDP votes. However, his verbal testimony conflicted with his written statement.
Kassim Tonko Kassim’s testimony echoed similar patterns, citing changes in APC and PDP votes in Angwan Kwara of Angwan Rimi, Keffi LGA. He admitted having no concrete evidence of being an APC Agent for the units he mentioned, casting doubts on his credibility. He also noted the absence of pink copies of the results.
Abdullahi Al-Kassim, representing Yara ward of Keffi LGA, pointed out discrepancies between EC8AS and EC8BS results. He pleaded with the tribunal to restore the allegedly manipulated votes, implicating both APC and PDP. However, doubts arose about his agent status, as his name and signature did not match the official records for the polling unit
