A star witness of the Labour Party (LP) in the ongoing legal challenge of the results of the February 25 presidential election has told the Election Petitions Tribunal that Benue and Rivers states recorded huge over-voting.
The witness, Eric Ofuegbu, who also said he is a Mathematics Professor, told the tribunal that from his mathematical analysis of results posted on INEC’s portal through the IREV, Benue and Rivers states recorded massive over-votings.
Labour Party and Peter Obi, its presidential candidate, contend that massive overvoting in the two states affected the overall result of the February 25, 2023, presidential election.
Ofuegbu, who claimed not to have been paid for the research he did on the results from the two states, admitted to having relied on data from the INEC result viewing portal for his analysis.
He claimed in his witness statement that based on his collation and mathematical tabulation, there were cases of massive overvoting in the two states.
Under cross-examination by INEC’s lead counsel Abubakar Mahmoud, the witness was presented with a copy of the presidential election result sheet from polling unit 002, in Degema, Rivers state, showing that 40 persons were accredited and 40 persons voted in the polling unit, with the INEC lawyer suggesting that the equal number of accredited voters and those who voted contradicts the claim of over voting.
Under further questioning on why he chose Rivers and Benue states as his main areas of interest, the witness said it was just random.
The professor was then asked whether an analysis of election results from just two states is enough to make conclusions on a presidential election, and he admitted he was limited by time.
