Presidential election: We transmitted results to server using a code – Presiding Officer

Our reporter

Adejuyitan Olalekan, a Presiding Officer during the February 23 presidential election, on Monday told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja, that he personally transmitted the results collated at his polling unit during the poll.

The Presiding Officer entered the witness stand as the third witness for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate Atiku Abubakar. The petitioners are challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress.

Olalekan who was earlier led by the petitioners’ lead counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, to adopt his witness statement on oath as his evidence -in -chief, was not asked to mention the state or the polling unit where he worked during the poll.

Under cross- examination by President Buhari’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, the witness who said he was a lecturer at African Community of Inquiry College of Education in Enugu State , maintained that he personally transmitted the collated results at his polling unit.

“I did it myself as the Presiding Officer. I transmitted through the code provided by INEC,” he said.

Asked by INEC’s lawyer, Yunus Usman (SAN) of the name and number of the server, Olalekan said he did not have such details.

Following questions asked him by APC’s lawyer, Akin Olujinmi, the witness said “Without the code, you cannot make any transmission of results.”

When asked further if he attached the code with which he claimed to have transmitted the collated results to his witness statement on oath, he said he did not but had it on his phone

While being cross-examined by Olanipekun , the witness maintained that all the voters at his polling units voted via card reader as the machine worked perfectly.

He also insisted that INEC did not direct Presiding Officers to allow voters who could not be authenticated by the card reader machine to vote manually with their picture captured.

“No, we were not directed to allow people to vote manually. The card reader worked for every voter who came to my polling unit,” he said.