By Ishaya Ibrahim
Mohammed Tata, an agent of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election has told the Presidential Tribunal sitting in Abuja that he was blackmailed to sign the result sheet of his polling unit in Jigawa.
President Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won Jigawa State by 794, 738 votes to defeat his challenger Atiku Abubakar of the PDP who had 289,895 votes.
Tata said the result of his polling unit was fake because election did not take place there.
He alleged at the Tribunal that agents of the APC threatened that he either signed a copy of the result or have his name removed as a beneficiary in the N-Power scheme.
The N-Power scheme is a federal government empowerment programme which employs graduates in the education, agriculture and health sector and pays them monthly stipends of N30,000.
Answering a question from the counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), Yunus Usman, Tata said he was told that if he refused to sign the result sheet, hisname would be removed.
Buhari scored over 700 votes in Tata’s polling unit, according to the result sheet the PDP tendered to the tribunal.
“I am a Muslim. I believe in destiny and what God decides will happen. Whether PDP win or the APC, I don’t have a problem with that. All I want is that I need justice in my country,” he said.
Tata explained that it was because he signed the result sheet that is the reason he still has his N-Power job.