On Tuesday, the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja witnessed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) present and conclude its case in response to Peter Obi’s petition, which contests the outcome of the presidential election held on February 25.
It should be noted that Bola Tinubu emerged as the winner in that election and assumed the presidency on May 29. Obi, representing the Labour Party, is urging the court to invalidate Tinubu’s win, citing INEC’s non-compliance with electoral regulations as the basis for his argument.
During the ongoing hearing on Tuesday, A.B. Mahmoud, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and legal representative for INEC proceeded to conclude the defense for the petition after summoning Lawrence Bayode as the first witness.
Bayode, who serves as an assistant director responsible for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) department within the commission, had already provided testimony the previous day in support of INEC’s defense against the petition presented by Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.
A.B. Mahmoud, SAN, the lead counsel for the commission, guided Bayode through his testimony and also submitted several documents as evidence during the proceedings.
During the intense questioning, the witness affirmed that the retrieval of indistinct documents from INEC’s Result Viewing Portal would have no impact on the actual results documented in the polling units, commonly referred to as Form EC8A.
See the Full Clip Here
According to the witness, the visual representations of form EC8A, captured through the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System and transmitted to IReV, hold no significance in the process of result aggregation.
Under the scrutiny of L.O. Fagbemi, SAN, the legal representative for the All Progressives Congress (APC), the witness affirmed to the court that the technical malfunction experienced during the previous presidential election did not hinder the process of result collation.
Furthermore, the witness stated that in the event of unclear downloads from IreV, the physical results could still be obtained as an alternative. Additionally, the petitioners submitted the E-Transmission Saver Web and compliance form as evidence through this witness, which was duly admitted and marked as such.
The witness further informed the court that a pre-production test had been conducted prior to the election.
In concurrence with Patrick Ikweato, SAN, the legal representative for the petitioners, the witness acknowledged that the report from the E-Transmission application highlights the necessary actions to address the significant vulnerability identified within the report.
The court session, presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani and consisting of a five-member panel, adjourned the proceedings to the following day (Wednesday). During this adjournment, Tinubu and his vice, Kassim Shetima, will commence presenting their defense.
NigeriaNow (
)
