The Akwa Ibom governorship candidate for the All Progressives Congress
\n(APC) in the last election is billed to testify before the election
\npetitions tribunal when it resumes sitting Thursday.<\/p>\n
Umana, who gave this indication at the weekend, added that the prosecution
\nwill also be presenting its key witnesses this week. He said among those
\nexpected to give evidence is the forensic team which inspected elections
\nmaterials used for the polls.<\/p>\n
Umana is before the tribunal challenging the declaration of the PDP
\ncandidate, Emmanuel Udom, as winner of the April polls and governor of the
\nstate. He said this week, his legal team will also be moving what he
\ncalled a riped motion for extension time to present additional witnesses.<\/p>\n
The APC guber candidate, in a statement, expressed his readiness to
\ntestify. He maintained that elections did not hold in the state. \u201cEven in
\nmy own polling unit, there was no election.<\/p>\n
So, I and my supporters were denied the opportunity of casting our votes.
\nThe same thing happened in other parts of the state. The election
\nmaterials were carted away even before the process commenced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the party would also tender INEC register for all polling units in
\nthe state and the Card Reader, \u201cto prove that elections did not hold in
\nthe state\u201d. After the APC concludes its case this week, the PDP and INEC
\nwill then open defence.Umana lamented that efforts were made to destroy
\nevidence in the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone directed that the booklets of ballot papers used during the sham
\nelection be unbounded and detached into single ballot papers to show that
\nthat they were actually used for voting, which was not the case. Infact,
\nthe exercise commenced with the detachment of booklets used for Etim Ekpo
\nLocal Government Area (LGA) of the state before information leaked.<\/p>\n
And when that happened, supporters of the APC mobilized to the INEC office
\nwhere they sighted people running out of the premises upon their arrival.
\nBefore a team of policemen and DSS operatives arrived the premises the
\nculprits had escaped, reportedly on a tip off by compromised police
\nofficers assigned to the premises.<\/p>\n
Our forensic team was also frustrated during inspection exercise; as most
\nof the election materials were destroyed. Some people went as far as
\npouring water on the materials,\u201d he said. He however added: \u201cNo matter
\nwhat they do, we have adequate evidence to prove that no election held.
\nOur people were on ground, so everything that transpired was recorded. I
\nam optimistic that with what we have, we will win at the tribunal\u201d.<\/p>\n
Umana maintained that he has respect for the rule of law and is ready to
\npursue his case to a logical conclusion using the right means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Akwa Ibom governorship candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last election is billed to testify before the election petitions tribunal when it resumes sitting Thursday. Umana,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n