Why INEC Canceled Kabong, Tudun Wada Ward Results -Hon Philip Asanato Adik To Tribunal

Yakubu Busari

The All Progressives Congress, the witness who is the 3RW1 ,Hon Philip Asanato Adik has told the tribunal that he raised objections which were resolve by all the political parties agents for the election to be canceled because of form EC8A II and EC8B 2 series wasn’t accompanied thevTudun Wada /Kabong ward in the final results .

Speaking during his cross-examination at witness box on Friday ,State High Court West of Mines ,Asanato said ,”I stand by paragraph 16 of my statement on oath that the collection of results was suspended at the Local Government level due to obvious reason for the suspension became of the result brought to the LGA coalition centre wasn’t accompanied with the polling units of the Tudun Wada ,Kabong was marked as exhibit P14 item 13 the results was collected same day with other in point 1-12 and 14 at collection .

He stated that at the coalition center where this results entered for various political parties from respective polling units in form EC8A, EC8B series results for the Tudun Wada /Kabong which

be suspended and the National Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, cancellation of the result which was held on the 23-02-2019 and order for a rerun in Kabong, Tudun Wada ward.

Yes, I did sign the results in proxy because I was the LG agent and Mr. Aliyu Othman was the co-agent who signed but it was after the cancellation of the results that we all agreed to sign, Hon Philip Adik explained.

However, he noted that after signing duplicate true copies of the results sheet was made available to all the agents of the parties that participated in the 23-02-2019 election into the Federal House of Representative, Jos North /Bassa Constituency.

Counsel to the petitioners, Barr Sunday Oyawole, while cross-examining him on P14 column 13 whether there is entering inside the results which reflect scored of various political parties within the line drawn, Adik admitted of seeing the scores for all the political parties that participated in the exercise.

He identified his affidavit statement on oath through his signature, name, as an agent of LG, when sought to know whether Philip Adik appears as the agent of INEC, he denied completely but he is just a coalition agent for LG, not Kabong, Tudun Wada ward.

Philip Asanato affirmed his disposition to the tribunal that in paragraph 10 the collection .P1-P22 was shown to him which is 65 polling units results sheet and he refused that, they are not known to me, as Kabong south is a polling unit under Tudun Wada.

Hon. Haruna Maitala of the All Progressive Congress (APC) opened his defense today at the state and National Assembly Tribunal sitting at High Court 8, West of Mines Jos.

The election of Maitala as Member, House of Representatives Bassa/ Jos North Federal Constituency is being challenged at the tribunal by Hon. Jonathan Dabo of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP). Dabo, after calling several witnesses, closed his case last week.

When the case file was called this morning, counsel to Maitala (who is 2nd respondent), Garba S. Pwul (SAN), told the tribunal of their intention to call two witnesses. He, however, sought the leave of the tribunal to tender sets of documents from the bar before calling witnesses. Without objections from counsels for other parties, the following documents were tendered and admitted in evidence:

1. Form EC8a2 of 63 various Pulling Units in Tudun Wada/ Kabong for the re-run election of 9 March 2019. The documents tendered were admitted in evidence and marked as exhibits R- R61.
2. Form EC8b2, which is Ward result for Tudun Wada/ Kabong Ward for the re-run election of March 9, 2019. The document was admitted and marked as exhibit R62 and R62a R63 and R63a, R64 and R64a and R65 and R65a
3. Form EC8 c2 ( 2 sets). The first set was for the election of 23 March 2019 while the second set was for the combination of the 23 March 2019 election and the re-run election of March 9, 2019. The exhibits tendered was admitted and marked as exhibit R67 and R67a.
4. Form EC8d2 for the entire Jos North/ Bassa Federal Constituency. The document was admitted in evidence as exhibit R68 and R68a

5.Form EC8e2 which is a declaration of result of the election of Jos North/ Bassa Federal Constituency. The          document was admitted and marked as exhibit R69

6. Evidence of payment of Certification for exhibits which is marked as exhibit R69 and R70
7. Manual for election officials 2019, Regulation and Guidelines for the conduct of the election issued by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC which is 1st respondent) dated 12 January 2019 on the hand of Professor Mahmud Yakub. Counsel urged the tribunal to take judicial notice of the existence and contents of the manual and the Guidelines. The documents tendered was admitted and marked as exhibits R70)1 and R72.

The 2nd respondent counsel applied for the adjournment of the matter until tomorrow to enable them to call their witnesses and closed their case. Without objections from counsels for the petitioners and 1st and 3rd respondents, the application was granted. Consequently, the matter was adjourned till the next day, for the continuation of defense.