Four witnesses testified at the Plateau state Governorship Election Tribunal in Jos.

Four witnesses testified at the Plateau state Governorship Election Tribunal in Jos.
At the Resumption of Trial on Thursday, the All Progressives Congress Candidate, for the 18th March Governorship Election in Plateau state,Dr. Nentawe Yilwada today,Presented four witnesses to defend his petition.
The Court sitting started with the tendering of documents by the second and third respondents.
The documents tendered were the copies of Judgements from the High court and federal high courts,the Counsel to the First Respondents,Dr. A.A Adewole did not object to the admissibility of the documents while Professor Kayode Olatoke,the lead Counsel to the Petitioners opposed to the admissibility of the documents and informed the Tribunal that they will reserve their reasons to the stage of final address.
The documents were tendered and marked as exhibits 2RA1RA2 and RA3 ,2RB1, among others .At the commencement of the defence of their petition with the presentation of their first witness,the Petitioners called their first witness in person of Maichibi Sunday Habila, who live in kurra Falls and said he was the ward returning officer for his Party,the All Progressives Congress.
The Witness who was led in in chief by Professor Kayode Olatoke SAN,said in your statement,you said there was no Result at P.U 00 4 of your ward which is Kurra Falls.
The Counsel to the first respondents sort to know from the witness through cross Examination to confirm to the Tribunal that you voted at your polling unit 006 not at the 005 as you claimed that there was over voting,he replied as yes but I was a supervisor and I supervised the P.Us under my ward,did your party have a gent there and what is his name?
My Lord I can only remember one of his names which is Gershon.
P.A Akubo, SAN took over the cross Examination and asked the witness whether INEC appointed him as an adhoc staff to monitor the Election in Kurra Falls, he said it was his party that appointed him but was trained by INEC and displayed his tag in which he used to monitor the election.
Can you confirm to me that the agent in that polling unit should be the one to give the account on what happened,no sir.
Mr. Jiks Luka Pam took his turn as the second witness,I live in Nafok under Barkin Ladi LGA, I’m a farmer .
You said there was no collation of result at Unit 001 of your ward Zabot.
When asked by the Counsel to the first respondent if he supervised all the Polling units under his ward,he responded no but I supervised some.
When asked if he voted at unit 001 at Bisichi no I voted at my Unit 008 at Mai Idon -Taro.
He was also asked about the name of the Agent that served at the poling unit and he mentioned his name as Ali Muhammad.
You claimed there was over voting,Yes. Do you have any INEC record that shows number of accreditation and total number of votes cast,no because there was no collation for me to get record.
P.A Akumbo when took his turn to cross examine the Witness,said apart from JIK Luka Pam,do you have any other name? No but I changed my initials here to AA16 for security reasons. How many polling units do you have at Zobot Ward? We have 27 polling units. Were you an agent at that Polling unit? No,he was further asked if he have ever read Electoral Act and INEC manual and guide lines,yes I have read some.
Before you cast your vote at your polling unit, accreditation was conducted with BVAS,yes and you were satisfied with the process,yes.
The Cross Examination of the third respondent was conducted by Emeka Etiaba,SAN said,did you confirm exhibit P. 32,yes I do and there was over voting were you truthful that the result was cancelled due to over voting? Yes sir.
Exhibit was taking to him and read paragraph three the result of Bisichi town was cancelled because BVAS was not used and do you have any INEC record to show the court? No I don’t.
Mr. Barnabas Gyang, a farmer and a resident of Kwakpis with initials A A. 14 after led in chief by Edward Pwajok SAN.
The first respondent Counsel sought to know from the witness if he registered at the Itakup unit 028 no sir,I was not registered there.
Tell my Lords the polling unit you voted, I voted at Polling unit 021 at Kakpis and your party had a polling unit agent there,yes can you tell us the name of the agent at polling unit 028? Yes his name is Pam Shut.
Were you trained by INEC to monitor the election? Yes.
The Second respondent asked the witness if he know the number of polling units of his ward,yes they are 30 polling units. You’re a card carrying member of APC, yes all the agents in those Polling units were appointed by your party,yes but we’re trained by INEC.
The fourth witness,Said his name is Umar Aliyu,from Febuna,Naraguta B. Ward of Jos North LGA and signed with initials as NRG and was led in Chief by Learned Silk Edward Pwajok,in paragraph 2 of your witness statement,you refered to a document exhibit P1. Do you still stand by it and you want the Tribunal to rely upon? Yes.
Cross examining the Witness,Dr. A.A Adewole, said at paragraph 3 of your disposition,you protested when the Electoral officer of Jos North LGA,took over the collation and do you know that the Collation officer for Naraguta B was appointed by INEC,Yes. And he need to perform his duty in line with INEC guidelines? It is so.
If he fails to perform his duty is it not proper to change him? And he responded on the election day?.
Can you confirm to my Lords that you were around when the collation started,yes but the results of 14 polling units were not submitted and we have 216 units in Naraguta B. and as we were waiting for the results of the 14 polling units,the Electoral officer of Jos North came and took over the collation and computed the results without that of the 14 units.
The Second respondent asked the witness if he read the Petition filled before the Tribunal he said yes , did you read the reply of Caleb Mutfwang? No.
In All the 216 units of your ward,your party appointed agents in all of them,yes were you one of them? No.
Did you protest in writing against the collation process? My duty was to observe what transpired and report to the party and it was my party that wrote a protest letter.
He was also asked if he is aware of one Umar Mohammed that was arrested by the Police with BVAS,said he was not aware and you know that the Police are investigating him,I’m not aware.
Up to the end of the collation,did anybody come with the results of the 14 polling units?
No.
Do you want the Tribunal to believe you that you were agent of your party? I reported everything to my party who took me there.
Third respondents cross Examination, can you remember the day the Collation took place? Yes it was on Sunday.
It took three days for the collation right? No two days.
In what point the Electoral officer of Jos North LGA took over the collation? He came on Sunday around 2 to 3Pm
After all the witnesses were cross examined, the Tribunal adjourned to Friday,30th June,2023 and the Petitioners will continue to defend their case they inform the court that they will call eight witnesses tomorrow.