Nigeria: Tinubu, APC's Agents Truncated Results in Rivers - Atiku's Witness Tells Presidential Election Court

Atiku's witness also said Mr Tinubu and APC's agents unleashed violence on voters and residents around polling units in Rivers State.

A witness of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, told the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja that "agents" of President Bola Tinubu truncated the uploading of results to the INEC server in Rivers State.

The witness, Abiye Sekibo, who was PDP's coordinator of the 25 February presidential election in Rivers, said officials of Nigeria's electoral commission, INEC, were restrained by "agents" of Mr Tinubu and the APC from using the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to upload collated results from polling units across the state.

"The agents of the 2nd respondent (Mr Tinubu) and 3rd respondent (APC) ensured that INEC presiding officers did not upload results of the presidential election in Rivers," Mr Sekibo, a former Transportation Minister, told the court.

Led in his evidence-in-chief by Atiku's lawyer, Eyitayo Jegede, Mr Sekibo further alleged that the agents unleashed violence on voters and residents around polling units in the state.

"INEC couldn't upload results across the entire Rivers State," he said.

But INEC's chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, during the collation of the presidential election results in Abuja, blamed the inability of the commission to upload results from polling units in most parts of the countries on "glitches."

During cross-examination by Mr Tinubu's lawyer, Akin Olujinmi, Mr Sekibo said he voted at his polling unit at Okrika Local Government Area of the state.

Mr Sekibo, a stalwart of the PDP, was asked if he knew the names of the agents who allegedly perpetrated the violence at the polls. He said no.

Similarly, APC's lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, in his cross-examination, asked Mr Sekibo how he traced the agents' identities to Mr Tinubu and the APC.

Responding, Mr Sekibo, who said he witnessed several results collation in 20 out of the over 600 polling units across the state, said he deduced the agents' identities from their violent actions.

Mr Sekibo, Atiku's seventh witness to testify before the five-member panel headed by Haruna Tsammani, said, "we tried to get to Obiakpor Local Government Area but were prevented. There was violence, and people were being killed."

The former governor of Rivers, Nyesom Wike, hails from Obiakpor Local Government Area. There were reports of widespread violence during the presidential election in the area.

Atiku, who came second in the election is challenging Mr Tinubu's victory.

He based his petition on the premise that INEC failed to comply with the provisions of the Nigerian constitution and the Electoral Act.

Atiku also accused the electoral umpire of manipulating the election results in favour of Mr Tinubu.

He urged the court to nullify Mr Tinubu's victory and declare him president.

In the alternative, Atiku prayed to the court to order a fresh election.

There are two other petitions against Mr Tinubu's victory.

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