By IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI
ABUJA—Four witnesses of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, including an expert in Information Technology (IT), yesterday, testified before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.

The quartet who took turns and gave oral evidence in favour of the petitioner, maintained that result of the April 16 presidential poll as declared by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in respect of Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi and Kaduna states, respectively, were false.

Those who testified before the Justice Kumai Bayang Akaas-led five-man panel of justices sitting over the petition, were CPC’s National Publicity Secretary, Engr. Rotimi Fashakin; an IT professional, Ahmed Temitope; Assistant Secretary of the party in Kaduna State, and an agent of the party in Enugu and Imo states, Mr Saliu Mustapha.

The witnesses contended that the election was rigged during the voter registration and at different collation centres across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

However, President Goodluck Jonathan, represented in court by 10 Senior Advocates of Nigeria, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, as well as counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief J.K Gadzama, SAN, and that of INEC, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, also took turn to cross-examine the witnesses on the basis of their oral testimonies in court and their statements on oath, adopted as part of the proof of evidence before the court.

Meantime, a new counsel to the petitioner, Mr Dipo Okpeseyi, SAN, yesterday apologised to the Justice Akaas-led panel over a legal blunder committed by the party on Monday, which was a day the tribunal barred CPC National Chairman, Prince Anthony Momoh, from giving evidence before it.

Mr Momoh’s disqualification followed a mix-up between his statement on oath and that of the Acting National Secretary of the party, Mr Buba Galadima, who had earlier testified as the PW-1 in the matter.

The duo had inadvertently adopted each other’s statements and signatures, a situation that was capitalised upon by the respondents, who opposed an oral application by counsel to the CPC, Mallam Abubakar Malami, SAN, pleading the tribunal to regularize the court record by swapping the testimonies of the two witnesses.

While adjourning further hearing on the case till today, presiding Justice Akaas reminded the petitioner that it has eight more days to prove that the 2011 presidential election was rigged in favour of President Jonathan.

The panel equally said it would accord the respondents five days each to defend themselves over their alleged complicity in the said electoral fraud.

It would be recalled that CPC went before the court with a view to voiding election results garnered by the PDP in all the 17 states in the South, as well as those of Sokoto, Kaduna, Plateau, Kwara, Benue, Adamawa, Nasarawa states, in the North and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

The petitioner alleged that the ballot papers meant for certain polling units were illegally diverted to other units and were subsequently used for ballot stuffing, even as it has equally asked the tribunal to declare that president Jonathan failed to fulfil the requirement of section 134 (2) of the 1999 constitution.

It specifically prayed the tribunal to nullify the April 16 presidential election and order a re-run between it and the ruling PDP.

The petitioner is also praying the court to allow it to tender software evidence it said would prove that the chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, manipulated the 2011 voters registration exercise in favour of President Jonathan.