Two ad-hoc staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday denied accepting bribes to participate in the alleged manipulation of results of the 2023 presidential election.
The INEC ad-hoc staff members, Alheri Ayuba and Sadiya Haruna who were subpoenaed witnesses testified before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, in the petition of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, filed to challenge the outcome of the presidential election.
While Ayuba gave his evidence as the 17th Petitioners’ witness, Haruna testified as the 18th witness.
Led in evidence by lead counsel for the petitioners, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, the duo, who were subpoenaed to appear as witnesses, adopted written statements they deposed on oath before the court.
The PW-17, Ayuba, told the court that she served as a Presiding Officer in Garki, Abuja, during the presidential election that was held on the 25th of February.
She told the court that the electoral process went smoothly until it got to the time that she wanted to upload the result of the election to INEC’s I-Rev portal using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, device.
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According to the witness, every effort she made to electronically transmit the results as she was trained to do by the Commission, failed.
The INEC ad-hoc staff, who is a former youth corps member, said her inability to upload the result from her polling unit, to the result viewing portal, made her unhappy.
‘After sorting out the ballot, I announced results to everybody’s hearing and diligently entered the scores to form EC8A and handed the original to the ward collation officer. Party agents present equally signed the result sheets
‘I however had problems of transmitting the result from BVAS machine to IReV.
‘There was a form that I filled at the Ward Centre where I stated that I was not happy at my inability to transmit the result.
‘I could not log into the INEC portal. If I had logged into the system and posted the result, perhaps, it could have ‘pending’ status so that when network is restored, it would upload,’ she added under cross-examination.
Asked if she was bribed to rig the election, the witness, said she was neither induced nor influenced by any politician, before or during the election.
In her own testimony, the PW-18, Haruna told the court that she served as Presiding Officer at the City Centre, by Green Garden, FCT, Abuja.
She told the court that the BVAS device malfunctioned at her polling unit and thus made it impossible for her to transmit the results of the election from her polling unit.
The witness told the court that the result she entered manually at her polling unit was what she took to the Ward Collation Officer, with agents of political parties monitoring the entire process.
Haruna said she had after the BVAS device failed, she activated the offline transmission process, but could not ascertain if the results she snapped with the device eventually uploaded or not.
She told the court that she was not in a position to know what made the INEC BVAS machine malfunction, saying she was only instructed on how to use the machine.
The witness equally told the court that she was not induced to rig the result of the presidential election.
Meanwhile, all the Respondents- INEC, President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and the All Progressives Congress, APC- opposed the admissibility of statements of the witnesses, saying they would adduce reasons behind their objections, in their final written address.
The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel adjourned further hearing on the petition till next Tuesday.
Atiku, who came second in the presidential poll, is among other reliefs, praying for the court to declare that he was the valid winner of the presidential contest, even as he applied for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that was issued to President Tinubu by INEC.