Some witnesses of the Ogun State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the Governorship Electoral Petition Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta have revealed how the April 11, election was allegedly rigged and manipulated to give victory to Governor Ibikunle Amosun of the All Progressive Congress, APC.
The PDP and its candidate, Prince Gboyega Isiaka had dragged Amosun to the tribunal, claiming that the election was fraught with irregularities in nine local councils and urged the tribunal to declare him the winner of the election.
The witnesses who were cross-examined, Thursday, by counsel to Amosun led by Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, that of the APC, George Oyeniyi and Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Oluwadare Ogunnaike said they witnessed how the election was rigged and manipulated.
The first witness, Aliu Musa who identified himself as a polling agent at Idi Ota in Alapoti ward in Ado-Odo/Ota local government argued that the result of the election was counted and announced at Ado-Odo Police Station instead of the polling units. He also told the court that he got the information of where the result was collated and announced the following morning from members.
Also, the Chairman of the PDP in Odeda Local Government, Tosin Oyekan while being cross examined also alleged irregularities in the local government adding that he visited seven out of 115 voting units in the local government.
Another witness, Ademola Adejumo who claimed to be the monitoring officer of PDP during the election also held that no election was held in ward 5 of the local government and that no result was declared.
Also, Bunmi Awodeyin who also adopted her statement on oath, told the court that though, she didn’t brief the lawyers, she could confirm what was contained in the statement was the true representation of what transpired in her polling unit.
She argued that many people from Northern Nigerian were brought to pooling unit for voting without proper accreditation.
All the witnesses adopted their written statements on oath and the Tribunal, however adjourned till Monday in continuation of the hearing.
