Nasarawa tribunal: PRP, AA witnesses allege padding of the 2023 governorship result

From Daniel Abel, Lafia

Events at the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Tribunal on Thursday became dramatic as two Agents of two political parties witnessed in favor of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).

A Ward Agent of Peoples Redemption party, (PRP), in Gayam Ward opened up one compelling evidence on vote manipulation during the 2023 Nasarawa State Governorship/State House of Assembly election.

The PRP Agent, identified as PW12, revealed damaging discrepancies in the summation of polling units results on the Gayam Ward Collation Summary Sheet (Form EC8B).

He testified that the figures on the Governorship section of the summary sheet did not accurately reflect the actual computation of votes obtained from the respective Polling Units in the Ward.

The witness said that he signed the Ward Collation Summary for the House of Assembly elections which held same time with the governorship but refused to sign the one for the Governorship race due to the padded result disparities.

The PRP witness further presented evidence, including the polling units’ results of the 58 polling units in Gayam Ward, which clearly showed that the votes transferred into the Collation Summary for the Nasarawa Governorship election were overtly manipulated and did not reflect the actual votes garnered by the APC governorship candidates at the Polling Unit level.

Another witness that gave a shocking witness about the discrepancies in the governorship result in Ciroma Ward is the Agent of the Action Alliance, identified as PW13, who also testified before the Tribunal.

His appearance was in pursuant to the Petitioners’ application, aiming to shed more light on the collation of results from Polling Units in Ciroma Ward into the Ward Collation Summary sheet (Form EC8B) for Lafia LGA.

The Petitioners claimed that the final summary of results did not accurately represent the votes computed from the respective Polling Units in Ciroma Ward.

Further more the tribunal also accepted two Polling Units Agents, designated as PW14 and PW15, who provided their testimonies supporting the claims of discrepancies in the election process.

Counsels to Gov. Abdullahi Sule, APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Wole Olanikpekun (SAN), Matthew Burkaa (SAN) and Ishaku Dikko(SAN) cross examined all the witnesses to prove that the results of the election was the reflection of what had happened.

Overwhemed by compelling testimonies from witnesses, the Tribunal chairman, Justice Ezekiel Ajayi adjourned the proceedings to July 27, 2023, for the continuation of the hearing.

Those critical revelations from witnesses particularly from the controversial Gayam and Ciroma wards had raised serious concerns about the integrity of the 2023 Nasarawa State Governorship election and its implication on the democratic process.