Poll dispute: I don’t know Atiku’s actual scores in presidential election – Dino Melaye

Sen. Dino Melaye, a star witness of Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party has told the Presidential Election Petition Court, (PEPC) on Friday agreed that results of the February 25 presidential election captured in Form EC8A could not be changed even where it was not transmitted electronically.

Melaye spoke during the continuation of the hearing of the petition filed by Atiku and PDP against the victory of President Bola Tinubu of APC in the February 25 election.

Speaking under under cross examination from counsel to President Bola Tinubu, Mr Akin Olujinmi, SAN, after he has given his testimony, Melaye, however, said that failure of INEC to transmit results from Form EC8As to its I-ReV was an infringement of the law.

But he said that the result captured in Form EC8A could not be changed even where it was not transmitted electronically.

Malaye said electronic transmission of results from the polling units unto the IReV was a very important aspect of the election process, adding that without that, the election circle could not be said to have been completed.

“Result is transmitted from polling units before you move to the ward collation center.”

Melaye had earlier told the court that the final result of the presidential election was wrongly computed and announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

But when asked to give the actual scores of Atiku in the election since he claimed the scores were wrongly computed, the witness said that he did not calculate them directly but that they were calculated through his statistician.

Under cross-examination by INEC’s lawyer, Mr Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, Melaye said most PDP agents across the country did not sign the Form EC8As which were the result from the polling units.

The witness further said that the results brought to the national collation centre by state electoral officers were at variance with the results recorded in the state.

Melaye said that he had three major grouses with the conduct of the election one of which was the refusal of INEC to transmit the election results electronically to its portal.

He said his depositions in his statements were based on his personal experience at the national collation centre and information from the party agents across the country who reported to him as the national collation agent of the party.

He also said that some of the reports given by the agents were live feeds of what was happening at their location real time through the use of technology.

Led in evidence by the petitioner’s lead counsel, Mr Chris Uche, SAN, Melaye had earlier told the court that he was PDP’s National Collation Agent, identified himself as a businessman and a politician.

He added that he walked out of the national collation centre before the end of the process as the national collation agent of the petitioners when he discovered the fraudulent activities going on at the centre.

The five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani then discharged Melaye from the witness box after all the respondents had questioned him.

The petitioners also tendered two sets of documents acquired from INEV via a subpoena issued on May 26 at Friday’s proceeding.

The documents are the certified true copies of Forms EC8A series from 13 local government areas of Nasarawa.

The second set of documents are Forms EC40G and Form EC40G(2), which were summaries of polling units where elections were cancelled or disrupted.

All the respondents objected to the admissibility of the documents saying they would advance reasons for their objection at the fin address stage.

The documents were however, admitted in evidence.

The court subsequently adjourned proceedings until June 19.

(PMNews)