ABUJA, Nigeria — The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPEC, on Friday, June 2, 2023, heard allegations of significant election rigging during the 2023 presidential elections against former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
The alleged misconduct purportedly took place at Ward Collation Centres, where representatives of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, were allegedly molested and driven away.
According to the court reports, results of the February 25, 2023, presidential election were illicitly modified against Atiku and the PDP after their representatives fled collation centres fearing for their lives.
PDP’s Borno State Collation Agent, Mr Nicholas Msheliza, testified at Friday’s proceedings that PDP agents at the ward collation centres were assaulted and chased away, allowing polling unit results to be completely altered.
He accused officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of violating the 2022 Electoral Act by not electronically transmitting election results as required by law.
Another witness, former House of Representatives member, Hon Sani Idris Kutigi, claimed that he refused to sign the results sheets in Form EC8D collated results because of the discrepancies between votes recorded at polling units and those entered into the form.
Legal practitioner Silas Joseph Onu further alleged that PDP agents were chased out of polling units, some arrested and locked up in police stations, while performing their duties at collation centres in Ebonyi State.
He claimed this allowed those falsifying the results to operate unimpeded.
At the request of Atiku’s lawyer, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani has adjourned the petition’s further hearing until Monday, June 5, 2023.
