Senator Dino Melaye, the National Collation Agent of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 presidential election, on Friday, June 16, 2023, in Abuja, told the Presidential Election Petition Court that INEC was wrong to declare Tinubu the winner of the election that was marred with irregularities.
Senator Melaye who testified as a Star Witness for the former Vice President, told the tribunal that election collation irregularities by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), resulted in the declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner of the election.
Melaye further told the Court that he left the National Collation Center at the International Conference Centre Abuja because the alleged willful errors perpetuated by INEC had become unpleasant and intolerable to him.
The witness, who was led in his evidence-in-chief by Atiku’s lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche SAN, stated that he declined to append his signature to the final collated results to avoid being a part of the corruption and malpractices that enveloped the collation process.
Melaye, the petition’s second Star Witness, maintained that the results used by INEC to declare Tinubu the victor of the February 25 presidential election were incorrectly computed.
He also informed the court that, in addition to himself, numerous PDP operatives in the presidential election did not sign the results at various levels.
Responding to Tinubu’s lawyer, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, the witness claimed that failure to transmit what has been recorded is a violation of the law.
He emphasized that the electronic transfer of results from polling locations to the IReV is a critical component of the election process, noting that the election circle cannot be said to be complete without the IReV.
The court adjourned the hearing in both petitions to Monday, June 19.
