By Harris Emmanuel

UYO –A staff of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Amba Anso, has testified against the commission at the National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Uyo. Chris Ekpenyong of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was declared winner of the Akwa Ibom North West  senatorial  district election by INEC.

Senator Godswill Akpabio is challenging Ekpenyong’s declaration as winner of the senatorial seat and is presenting his witnesses in the case at the tribunal.

At the resumed hearing of the petition, Tuesday, Amba contradicted his employer during cross examination by S. I. Ameh, SAN, counsel to Senator Akpabio.

Rigging claims fly as Nigeria election results come in(Opens in a new browser tab)

Amba had claimed that INEC staff deployed to conduct the election in Ekpenyong 1 Ward in Essien Udim Local Government Area of the state were kidnapped and election materials hijacked by thugs of All Progressives Congress, APC.

According to Amba, as a result of the abduction of INEC staff and hijack of election materials,  there were no accreditation and conduct of election in the Ward. He claimed that this necessitated the cancellation of election in the entire Ward.

However, when he was shown the certified true copies of the election  results in Ekpenyong 1 Ward prepared and presented by INEC, his employer, Amba expressed surprise and claimed that he was not a member of INEC legal team.

Also when the INEC staff and witness was shown the smart card reader report prepared by INEC and earlier tendered as exhibits at the tribunal which included the result of the Ekpenyong 1 Ward, Amba insisted that he was not a staff of the ICT department of INEC.

During cross examination, Amba conceded to not have reported the alleged kidnap of INEC officials to the Police or any other law enforcement agency.