AMAC/Bwari federal constituency election didn’t comply with electoral act-Witnesses allege

The February 23 House of Representatives for AMAC/Bwari federal constituency did not comply the Electoral Act and the INEC guidelines, according to witnesses on Wednesday.

The three witnesses while testifying before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal alleged that the process was marred by improper accreditation of voters.

They made the testimony when the tribunal commenced hearing in the petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its House of Representatives candidate, Mr Amanda Pam.

The petitioners filed the petition before the three-man tribunal challenging the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr Micah Yohanna Jiba.

Jiba, the immediate past chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) was declared winner of the AMAC/Bwari federal constituency House of Representatives election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), having polled a total vote of 174,377.

The candidate APC candidate polled 82,761 votes. INEC, Jiba, PDP are respondents in the suit.

During cross-examination by the counsel for INEC, Olumuyiwa Ajayi, Jiba’s witness Musa Abdullahi, informed the tribunal that there was no proper accreditation of voters in his polling unit on the day of the elections.

However, the witness to the APC while testifying said he could not remember the exact number of accredited voters in the unit, but was quick to say: “There was non-compliance with the electoral guidelines in my polling unit.”

Another witness, Bello Kabiru, told the tribunal that he signed the result sheet for his polling unit, 001 of Usuma ward in Bwari area council, for record purpose as he had a complaint with the scores of parties.

He added that accreditation as not properly done in the polling unit.

“I have a complaint. My complaint is non-compliance. I have complaint about the scores of parties as the presiding officer wrote what pleased him.”

Thomas Ibba, who testified as the fourth petitioner’s witness, informed the tribunal that there was improper accreditation of voters as well as over voting in his voting point.

While stating that he did not know the number of total registered voters in the voting point, the witness said, “the numb of votes is more than the number of accredited voters.”

Leave a Reply