Presidential election tribunal: PDP witness alleges party defeated APC in Katsina

A People’s Democratic Party (PDP) witness, Tuesday, alleged that his party won elections in the 2019 presidential polls in Katsina State, with 33,000 votes.

The witness, Sallisu Yusuf, who claimed to be the state chairman of the PDP, was speaking during his cross examination by APC lawyers at the Presidential Tribunal on Tuesday.

The witness also told the court that he voted without accreditation on February 23.

Yusuf alleged that presiding officers who were supposed to have taken reports of complaints from electoral officers were forced out of the polling units during the election.

Yusuf’s claim was intended to prove his allegation that elections were marred by widespread irregularities, crisis and electoral fraud.

The witness, who gave a breakdown of votes allegedly polled by the PDP and the APC, said the party secured 905,000 votes across Katsina State while the APC had 872,000 votes.

Another witness, Sallisu Funtua, a local government collation agent, read through his written statement to show that he had reported cases of election irregularities in various parts of his local government, resulting in the cancelation of results in at least two polling units.

Atiku Abubakar and his party, the PDP, are challenging Buhari’s victory and have tendered 26,175 exhibits to the tribunal.

Earlier on Monday, the PDP presented Buba Galadima, a former ally of President Buhari, as its witness at the tribunal.