…Recounts killing during poll, I wept because there’s human life not just votes that were involved
By Frank Momoh
A witness at the presidential election tribunal, Mr. Arume Mohammed Yahaya, on Wednesday wept bitterly while recalling the sporadic shootings in some parts of Kogi State that led to the death of an innocent soul during the February 23 presidential election.
Though testifying at the presidential election petition tribunal, for Atiku and PDP, he revealed how political thugs armed with dangerous weapons disrupted the election with gun shots that led voters to flee polling unit.
He said that two of the voters hit by bullets were rushed to a nearby hospital and that one of them died shortly after he was admitted.
The witness under cross examination by Buhari’s counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, told the tribunal that political thugs invaded his polling unit in Abocho in Selina Local Government Area of Kogi State and fired gun shots sporadically to scare away voters.
The witness said in the confusion that followed, voters deserted the polling unit and ran into different directions for safety, adding that at the end of the day, election could not be conducted but votes were allocated to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
At this stage, the witness said, “I am emotional because someone died from gun shots”. Yahaya then paused for a while and started weeping profusely.
It took the intervention of the Tribunal Chairman who encouraged him to be strong and conclude his testimony.
Yahaya, who revealed that before 2019 he was an APC member said his pain was that someone died in the election and not because PDP didn’t win.
Another witness Adamu Samuel Sule, also from Kogi State alleged that INEC officials did not give PDP agents election result on the instruction of some unnamed APC stalwarts.
Meanwhile, further hearing in the petition has been adjourned till Friday July 19.