A witness has testified in court, that there was an over-voting by 100 votes, in his polling unit. The witness had made this disclosure during a cross-examination of witnesses, at the ongoing governorship election tribunal in Kaduna State on Monday, July 24.
Haruna Abubakar, the witness, had adopted his statement as his evidence before Justice Victor Oviawe’s panel, explaining that seven hundred voters had been accredited at the polls but eight hundred votes had been counted at the conclusion of the election.
Abubakar, who was a businessman had told the court that after he exercised his franchise, he stayed back to witness the counting but the election result was not announced at the polling unit as was mandated by the Electoral Act.
Upon being asked by Alhassan Umar, the Counsel to INEC, if he could recall the number of valid and rejected votes, the witness had said “no”.
Another witness by name, Hauwa Hussaini, had explained that she was at her polling unit on the day of the election at exactly 8:45pm to exercise her franchise.
When asked by the counsel during cross-examination, how she was able to determine over-voting, she remarked that over-voting was when the number of votes was more than the number of accredited voters.
Consequently, Lantana Mikaila, another witness had made her statement before the court on the 18th of July, informing the court that the election process had been peaceful initially, but had later became disorganised.
But at the resumed hearing on Monday, July 24, the petitioners, together with the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Isa Ashiru and his party summoned five witnesses to testify on overvoting in their respective polling units.
The court has meanwhile, adjourned the case to 25th July, so as to further cross-examine other witnesses.
