PDP member testifies against party at Ekiti tribunal
From Ifedayo Sayo, Ado-Ekiti

A PRINCIPAL witness who claimed to be a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Ademati Adeyinka, yesterday told the elections petitions tribunal hearing the governorship petition filed by the Action Congress (AC) how members of his party disrupted the rerun election in his unit at Ipoti-Ekiti.


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Adeyinka, who was the petition witness 20 (PW20), claimed that PDP thug attacked his polling unit located at The Apostolic Primary School in the community and disrupted the election.

AC and its governorship candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, had challenged the outcome of the rerun election in which Governor Segun Oni was declared the winner.

In his witness statement, Adeyinka said he arrived the polling unit at about 9.30 a.m. and voting started at about 10.30 a.m. But at exactly 11.20 a.m., he claimed that some PDP leaders, including the PDP Leader of Business in the state Assembly, Mr. Layi Oke, led other leaders to his polling unit and attacked the AC chairman in his ward and drove him away.

Besides, he claimed that other supporters of the AC among the voters, including himself, were driven away from the polling unit.

Adeyinka, 45, further told the tribunal that he is a Christian of the Apostolic Faith and would not lie, adding that voters were forced out of the polling unit because of the fracas, which occurred at the unit.

Four other witnesses from the community, Omolewa Abiodun, Akande Olomi, Adebayo Daramola and Emmanuel Akinwale, gave evidence as to the disruption of the rerun election in the community.

Abiodun, PW16, who said he was the AC polling agent for unit 007 in Ward A of Ipoti, told the tribunal that Mr. Layi Oke led thugs to disrupt the election in his unit, adding that he was "beaten seriously".

He maintained that voters were forced to vote for the PDP, adding that majority of the voters, particularly sympathisers of the AC, were disallowed from voting in the unit.

Abiodun said the PDP chairman was sighted giving money to the presiding officer and policemen attached to the unit, maintaining that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) official and the police collaborated with the PDP to rig the election in the unit.

Akande Olomi, PW17, who claimed to be the AC agent in unit 002 of Ipoti Ward B, alleged that AC members were intimidated days before the election in the community.

He said on the day of the polls, PDP members drove away the AC supporters at the polling unit, adding that he did not sign the result for the unit because of the crisis at the polling unit.

Adebayo Daramola said he was the AC party agent for unit 011 in Ipoti, adding that election in the unit was not free and fair because majority of the voters were disallowed from voting.

Emmanuel Akinwale, who served as the polling agent for the AC at Oko Oyikaka Polling Unit, said as soon as voting began, PDP members came in their large number and intimidated voters.

He said in his statement on oath that he was approached by the PDP leaders to share the remaining ballot papers between the AC and PDP and thereafter thumb-printed in favour of the two parties.

He, however, added that he rejected the offer and was beaten, saying a PDP member, Kunle Adedeji, injured him and damaged his motorcycle.

Two other witnesses, Femi Ojurongbe PW14 and Oke Ezekiel PW15, also told the tribunal how the election was rigged at Ifaki, Oni's hometown.

Oke said journalists, observers and AC supporters were brutalised by the PDP thugs led by one Ijakoko, adding that election materials were never brought to his polling unit at Egun Unit 006 in Ifaki Ward I.

He said voters, who had turned up to vote in the unit, were later informed by a PDP leader that voting had been done on their behalf, adding that some of the observers and journalists beaten by PDP thugs were later detained at the police station in Ifaki.

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