749 polling places did not use BVAS, according to a witness

Rasaq Adeosun, the prosecution’s second witness in the ongoing Election Petition Tribunal hearing cases related to the July 16 governorship election in Osun State, claimed on Tuesday that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System was not utilized in 749 polling locations.

Under cross-examination, Adeosun, the State Collation Agent for the All Progressives Congress candidate at the election, Adegboyega Oyetola, informed the tribunal that he was unable to confirm whether party members signed election result sheets at the polling places that his candidate was contesting in front of the tribunal.

Additionally, in response to inquiries from the attorney for the first respondent in the case, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN, Adeosun, who claimed to be an Oyetola appointee, told the panel that while he was present at the state collation center on election day, he only heard reports of events from ward agents of his party.

In his witness statement, he stated that the Peoples Democratic Party received 403,364 votes, but he also admitted signing his name to the form EC8D1, which records votes cast for parties.

Ademola Adeleke, the PDP candidate, attended several institutions, but Adeosun insisted that none of them had admission policies or guidelines, and he claimed to have neither seen nor been present during any court proceedings in which Adeleke was being tried for forgery.

He additionally acknowledged that he was not present at all of the 749 contested voting locations when INEC officials announced the election’s results.

Sheu Mohammed, the deputy director of election and party monitoring for INEC in Osun, had already appeared before the tribunal earlier in the day in response to a subpoena served on the organization. Adeleke had requested that Sheu Mohammed appear and present filings for the 2018 governorship election.