No magic can make Akpabio win at election tribunal, witness insists

A lecturer with the University of Uyo, Dr. Anietie Akpan, testified as the last witness at the Election Petition Tribunal sitting Uyo for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Akwa Ibom State Chapter, in the suit between Godswill Akpabio and Senator Christopher Ekpenyong and three others.

Akpan, who was subpoenaed as an expert witness, gave evidence on 115 INEC polling unit result sheets (Form EC8A) available from the National Assembly elections in Essien Udim Local Council.

  He noted that there was no Form EC8A for Ikpe Annang and Ukana West II among the forms given to him for examination.

From evidence available in the court, Exhibit P535, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Form EC8E, which is the result sheet for the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District, the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 83,158 votes while the PDP had 118,215 votes.

Also, from exhibits available in court from the INEC, the APC in Essien Udim scored 6,241 while the score for PDP was 3,422.

The witness, who turned the tribunal into a Mathematics lecture hall, said that from his professional computation from the EC8A forms, the aggregate of scores credited to the APC from the addition of the figures from each Form EC8A, indicating the results from all the polling units where elections were not cancelled by INEC, amounted to 35,797 and also that the PDP in the same aggregate scored 9,873 votes in Essien Udim.

He said that assuming the results claimed by the APC in Essien Udim were correct, that the addition of such result to the general results got from the other local councils making up the Senatorial District, the PDP would still lead with a margin of over 8,000 votes.

However, counsel to the petitioner, S. I. Ameh (SAN), gave indications that he shall be objecting to the admissibility of the evidence as brought into the case by Akpan, but opted in compliance with the rules of the tribunal to reserve his objection and include it in the final address.

The court consequently admitted the evidence subject to the objection caution as posed by counsel to the petitioner.

But a counsel to the petitioner, who pleaded anonymity, however indicated that Akpabio is no longer interested in the petition following the news of his nomination as a member of Buhari’s cabinet.

Meanwhile, a witness, Brendan Etukidem and the PDP ward agent for Odoro Ikot 2, Ward 7 in Essien Udim Local Council, discredited earlier reports by the police that elections were peaceful in Essien Udim Local Council.

He refuted the testimony of PW6, the police officer who testified in favour of Akpabio.