The National Collation Officer of the Peoples Democratic Party (2023) during the 2023 presidential election, Senator Dino Melaye, told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that the results of the presidential election were wrongly computed and announced, hence his refusal to sign the final result has declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Melaye, who is the governorship candidate of PDP in Kogi State told the court that though the party had agents in all polling units across the federation, some of the agents also declined to sign copies of election results in their locations owing to widespread electoral malpractices they observed.
The PDP chieftain was the 22nd witness in the case that the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, filed against Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Melaye who was led in evidence by Atiku’s lead counsel, Chris Uche, told the court that he refused to sign the final result as declared by INEC because he could not endorse fraud.
He said, “The said result was wrongly computed and announced. That was why I refused to sign it because I don’t endorse fraud.”
While being cross-examined by INEC’s lawyer, Mr. Abubakar Mahmood, SAN, Melaye, told the court that though he voted in Kogi state on the election day, he immediately left for Abuja to perform the task that was assigned to him by his party.
He noted: “My lords, it is not true that all the agents signed the results of the election across the federation. Not all of them signed. I may not give you the specific details or actual number of our agents that did not sign the results in protest.”
Melaye added that as a lawmaker that was involved in the amendment of the Electoral Act, he knew that the law made it mandatory that results from polling units should be electronically transmitted to INEC’s IReV portal.
He noted: “My lords, exhibits have shown that result on the IReV was at variance with what was announced. What was brought to Abuja by State Returning Officers was totally different from what transpired in the states.”