YOUTH CORPERS CONFIRM ELECTION TOOK PLACE IN RIVERS STATE.

Hearing continued yesterday at the Rivers State Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in
Abuja, as the Independent National Electoral Commission continues with its defence of the election of
April 11th 2015, in which Nyesom Wike of the PDP was declared winner.
One of the witnesses called in for cross extermination is a serving
member of the National Youth Service Corps, who identified
himself as Jerry Nyingwa from Tai Local Government Area.
Nyingwa told the Tribunal under cross examination that he carried
out accreditation and also affirmed that there was voting on the
day of the election.
The defence witness also stated that he did not encounter any
violence nor did anybody snatch electoral materials, adding that
no soldier was at his polling unit on the day of the elections.
On further cross-examination by counsel to the petitioner, Akin
Olujimi to determine if the materials given to him included the
Electronic Smart Card Reader, Nyingwa answered in the
affirmative.
He also confirmed that smart card readers given to his polling unit
malfunctioned on the day of the election, hence resorting to
manual accreditation.
However, the forensic analysis of the usage of card readers which
was shown to the witness as an exhibit indicated that the card
readers were not used at all.
The witness was further asked by the Senior Advocate of Nigeria if
he was aware of the instruction from INEC Headquarters in Abuja
for the postponement of elections where card readers
malfunctioned, but he denied knowledge of such directive.
Another witness was also presented by INEC counsel in the person
of Adeyemi Saheed on the conduct of elections in Akuku Toru
Local Government Area.
The second NYSC witness was put under cross-examination by
counsel to Governor Nyesom Wike and confirmed that elections
took place on April 11th.
Adeyemi Saheed said there were no soldiers on sight on the
Election Day, adding that he did not witness any incident of
snatching of electoral materials and that all party agents were
present at the polling units and made no complaints of
irregularities.
Under cross-examination by counsel to the petitioners; Akin
Olujimi, the respondent witness confirmed that he received card
readers and agreed that it should be used for accreditation.
Adeyemi Saheed told the tribunal that the card readers failed
before resorting to manual accreditation.
There are reports that INEC has so far called in eight witnesses
to support its defence.