Atiku vs Buhari: PDP Witness Accuses INEC Official Of Collecting $10,000 Bribe

A witness for the Peoples Democratic Party, Peter Ali, while speaking at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday alleged that an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission identified as Abubakar Kaura was found with the sum of $10,000 dollars on the day of the election.

Ali, who claimed that he was the ward collation officer stated that the $10,000 dollars was a bribe for the INEC officer to manipulate the result of the election in the area of Nasarawa State.

Under cross-examination by INEC counsel, Yunus Usman, SAN, Ali admitted he reported the matter to the police which he claimed was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Bureau for further investigation.

He was asked if he had any idea whether anyone was charged for the allegation, he noted that he did not know and further stated that he doesn’t have any information about the outcome of the investigation.

The INEC counsel asked him to know if he signed form EC88 under duress but in his response, he said he signed it voluntarily mainly because his party won in the ward.

Further, Ali said the allegation he declared before the tribunal was not hearsay evidence but claimed he went on a tip-off to personally witness the alleged $10,000 dollars found in the custody of the INEC officer.

The witness further stated that out of the 24 units in the ward, he only receive results of 23 units excluding the unit where the allegation was allegedly perpetrated.

Besides, Temeko Sunday, another PDP witness alleged that INEC officers within the areas of his official duty as agent for the opposition party were brazenly rejecting election results from units where it was clearly believed that the PDP won overwhelmingly.