NEWS FROM THE PLATEAU STATE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION PETITION TRIBUNAL.

Sen JT Useni’s Petition gets further boost as Lalong and APC Witnesses tell Tribunal that INEC Presiding Officers Altered Results of Gubernatorial Election in their collation centres.

• INEC justifies alterations,

*Lalong suddenly closes case

The chorus of “Yes, there is an alteration on the result sheets” started with two of the witnesses brought in to bolster the defense of Gov Simon Bako Lalong.

Senator Useni is challenging the election and declaration of Simon Bako Lalong as winner of the governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as unlawful, null and void.

Two of the APC agents Kabiru Danladi Doctor, from Nasarawa Gwom and Sadiq Goje, from Masallacin Juma’a street all in Jos North Local Government Area conceded that results were “doctored” in their respective polling units.

But they pointed to INEC presiding officers as the sources of such alterations. They said the officers had effected and counter-signed the corrections because they discovered some mistakes on the result sheets.

Pushed harder by Sunny-Gabriel Odey, counsel for the petitioners, Kabiru read out the total number of votes cast from Nasarawa Gwom which changed from 360 to 376 on the White Copy (Exhibit P16).

The duplicate or pink copy of the same result was also corrected from 344 to 350 (Exhibit P16a).

Sadiq told the tribunal that the INEC presiding officer made some alterations on the result sheet of his polling unit at Masallacin Juma’a after noticing some mistakes. The implication was that the two result sheets carried different results but bore the same serial number.

At this stage, Governor Lalong’s counsel, J.A Akubo announced that “We are closing the case for the 2nd Respondent.”

The announcement caught many in the courtroom by surprise. It meant that Governor Lalong had called in only two witnesses on Monday to support his defense thus making a total of six witnesses that had testified for him since last Friday.

GS Pwul, SAN, represents the 3rd and final Respondent in this case – the All Progressives Congress, APC.

He called five witnesses, all from Jos North LGA. Isa Samaila Gilolo, Hamisu Yahaya, Sani Inusa, Munzali Lawal and Abdullahi Maigoro, have pointed the finger at INEC presiding officers for altering gubernatorial election results in their various collation units.

Both INEC and Lalong’s counsel tried to explain and justify the actions of the electoral staff. They led the witnesses in evidence to say the corrections were effected in the presence of all party agents. This has been a point hotly contested by PDP.

In some instances, the APC witnesses tried to avoid calling out or calculating clearly contradictory figures on different result sheets by claiming that they could not read or see. And SG Odey would wryly interject, “Yes, the figures are so mutilated that you cannot see them clearly.”

At the request of counsel to the 3rd Respondent, Paschal Mamoh, Chairman of the tribunal, Hon Justice HA Saleeman adjourned the matter to Tuesday July 30 to enable APC bring in more witnesses.

Senator Useni and his running mate in the governorship election, Dr James Dalok have made consistent appearances at the tribunal since inauguration.

Yiljap Abraham

Media Consultant to
Sen (Gen) Jeremiah T Useni,

July 29, 2019

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Plateau Guber Tribunal: Sen JT Useni Gets Major Boost as APC Agents Confirmed Results Alteration by Presiding Officers