Television Nigerian

Proceedings resumed on Monday before the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja with the petitioners, Senator Ademola Adeleke and the PDP  calling 10 more witnesses.

However,  most of the witnesses proved useless to the petitioner  as they could not substantiate their claims.

The petitioners – the PDP and its candidate Senator Ademola Adeleke – are contesting the outcome of the election won by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adegboyega Oyetola.

The 10 witnesses called on Monday by the petitioners brought to 34 the number of witnesses so far called by the petitioners, who planned to call over 100.

All the witnesses called on Monday, most of whom were barely literate artisans, alleged that there was over-voting at the polling units where they served as agents of the PDP.

Some of the witnesses could not read the statements they claimed to have signed and adopted before the tribunal on Monday as their evidence in chief in the case.

The witnesses, most of whom could also not express themselves fluently in English language, were however unable to substantiate their allegations of over-voting.

When asked, under cross-examination, to provide proof of their claimed over-voting, the witnesses would point to some alterations in the result sheets tendered before the court.

When reminded, by respondents’ lawyers, that they signed the said result sheets on their own volition, the witnesses  claimed to have signed after protesting.

At a point, some of the witnesses became unruly as they refused to answer questions under cross-examination, thereby necessitating occasional intervention by tribunal’s Chairman, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo.

Some of the witnesses, also confessed, under cross-examination, that they were not the actual PDP’s agents, whose names were submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the election.

One of the witnesses, Mrs. Victoria Fadeke Alo admitted that it was actually another agent – Ilesanmi Samson Taiwo – who signed the result sheet as agent of the PDP in the polling unit she claimed to have represented the party.

Under cross-examination by Wole Olanipekun (SAN) who appeared for Oyetola, Mrs Alo admitted that she was not the Ilesanmi Samson Taiwo, whose name appeared on the result sheet as the PDP agent.

Another witness, Oyedokun Wasiu Soyode, who said he acted as PDP agent at Polling Unit 9, Ward 5 in Ejigbo Local Government also admitted not being the actual agent whose name was sent to INEC.

President Muhammadu Buhari has formally received various members of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) Support Groups from the North East, who defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Receiving the delegation of the North East political stakeholders including the defectors led by Umar Bukar Bolori, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday, President Buhari commended them for their decision, and also welcomed the new members to the APC.

He said he was not surprised by their defections because a good majority of the people in the North East were traditionally APC members and supporters.

Buhari thanked the defectors for demonstrating their support and love to him and the APC.

He urged them not to relent in their efforts aimed at ensuring electoral victory for the APC in the forthcoming general elections.

Bolori, who later spoke to State House correspondents, said the country needed someone like President Buhari for speedy transformation of the nation’s economy.

“The issue is not on whether a Northerner is leading the country or not, it doesn’t matter. We need somebody who can actually deliver the goods.

“We witnessed what happened when Abubakar Atiku was the Vice President of this country; basically he was the de facto President in the first term of former President (Obasanjo) but nothing to show in the entire North-East

“ We have confidence in Buhari and that is why we are now with him,” Bolori said.

Former Governor of the old Borno State, Mohammed Goni, who was among the defectors, said he defected from the PDP to join the APC due to respect he has for President Muhammadu Buhari.

Goni, who governed old Borno from 1979 to 1983, said his defection was also informed by the achievements of the president, particularly in the area of security as relative peace had returned to the northeast.

Goni, who was also PDP governorship candidate in 2011 general elections, said: “I know the President very well; I was the council Secretary when he was Governor of North-East. He is a performer.

“We want the President to continue, we don’t want him to go because if he goes, the insurgency will not end, if a new person comes, the process will start all over.

“The way he is handling that problem now, shows he is energetic and committed to the course.

“ So, he needs time to consolidate what he has done. It is important to keep him in office for two consecutive terms.’’

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will train over one million electoral staff and ad-hoc personnel for the conduct of the 2019 general elections.

Mr Solomon Soyebi, Chairman, Board of Electoral Institute (BEI), made the disclosure on Monday in Calabar.

He stated this during a training workshop for State Training Officers and Assistant State Training Officers on Cascade Training Implementation for 2019 elections.

The workshop was organised by INEC in collaboration with the International Foundation of Electoral System (IFES).

Soyebi explained that 850,000 electoral personnel would be trained as polling unit officials, while 150,000 would consist of Civil Society Organisations and officials of  security agencies officials.

‘‘With just about 39 days to the first election and about 53 days to the second one, it is very important that we train our people adequately.

“For the poll officials, we are going to train over 850,000 personnel.

“When you aggregate the Civil Society Organisations and security officials, we will be talking of over one million personnel and each of them has to be trained.

“Today’s training is for the poll officials, who will go back to their states to transmit the training to the ad-hoc staff ahead of the election,’’ he said.

He added that for the first time, the institute was organising a training which would involve the inclusiveness of special groups like the people with disabilities.

“The commission is very friendly with People Living with Disabilities, not just that alone; we are gender sensitive.

‘‘We have special groups and the people with disability are part of them,’’ he added.

Speaking, Dr Frankland Briyai, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Cross River, said the training was designed by the commission to ensure that personnel for the elections were thoroughly trained.

Briyai charged the participants to take the training seriously, to efficiently and effectively implement the cascade training for the 2019 elections in their respective states.

He gave assurance that INEC and security agencies would ensure crisis-free polls in the Feb. 16 and March 2 general elections in the state.

Dr Umar Idris, Acting Director-General of Electoral Institute, said the training would provide a veritable opportunity for all the loose ends to be tightened.

He implored the participants to brace up for the task ahead by being proactive in every step of the training, to ensure that all states were on the same page.

Mr Jake Epelle, Chief Executive Officer of Albino Foundation, said that no true democracy could be achieved without the inclusion of all critical stakeholders in the society into the electoral process.