Shina Peller, Accord candidate for Oyo North Senatorial District, on Thursday, told the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Ibadan that there were several grounds that makes the Feb 25 election not to be free and fair
The former lawmaker who represented Iseyin,Itesiwaju, Kajola and Iwajowa at the 9th Assembly said there were discrepancies in the Feb. 25 election results declared by INEC.
Peller had filed a petition before the tribunal challenging the INEC’s declaration of Sen. Fatai Buhari of All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of senatorial district’s election after polling 90,074 votes.
He said he was at the tribunal to challenge the result because INEC did not comply with dictates of the electoral law and express optimism that the panel will look at the evidences before them critically and do justice to it in the interest of common man.
Peller, a star witness in the petition, while being cross-examined by INEC’s Counsel, Mr Osita Mbamalu said that some of his party agents came to the party’s situation room after counting of votes with the election results, while some did not come with it because they were not given.
He insisted that there were alterations on some of the results brought by his party agents, while some were also mutilated.Also that the election were not free and fair, as there were discrepancies,
Peller, while being cross-examined by the APC Counsel, Mr Kazeem Gbadamosi, SAN, also said that there were missing results in some council areas within the senatorial district.
He further told the court that he disagreed with some of the results declared by INEC in some local government areas of the senatorial district because of the alterations, over-voting and mutilation.
Peller said that he won the senatorial district’s election based on his calculation, adding that the result declared by INEC was wrong.
Two other witnesses called by the petitioner’s counsel, Rasaq Kamarudeen and Festus Olamide, also told the tribunal that there were over-voting in some of the polling units they monitored.
Kamaldeen, who said he worked as the party’s ward collation agent for ward 1 and 2 in Irepo LGA, informed the tribunal that scores were not recorded for Accord in some polling units.
He said that some of the collated results were missing and that INEC did not give result to some agents of the party.
INEC’s counsel, Mbamalu, told the tribunal that he would not be calling any witness in the matter while the APC counsel Gbadamosi, informed the tribunal that he had two witnesses to be called
The case was however adjourned till Saturday July 22, 2023
