Electoral Results: INEC requests modification of inspection order granted to Obi and Atiku

In order to change the orders it issued allowing candidates of the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to review sensitive materials utilized for the presidential election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has petitioned the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

INEC asked the appeal court, which will serve as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, to modify the order in its legal proceeding from March 4 so that it may modify the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS, it employed for the presidential election.

The arrangement, it informed the court, was required since the BVAS will also be used for the upcoming round of elections, beginning with the governorship and state assembly elections slated for this Saturday as well as other rescheduled polls…..Continue Reading 

It would be challenging for INEC to carry out the scheduled elections without a fast modification of the inspection order granted to Obi and Atiku, particularly the part prohibiting it from interfering with anything contained in the BVAS.

You may recall that on Friday, a three-member court panel approved Obi and Atiku’s access to all of the sensitive materials that the INEC used to conduct the February 25 presidential election.

After hearing two separate ex-parte applications that the two disgruntled presidential aspirants filed alongside their political parties, the panel, presided over by Judge Joseph Ikyegh, issued the rulings.

Bola Tinubu, the widely acknowledged winner of the presidential election, and his political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, were named as respondents in the case.

Both requests were supported by Section 146 (1) of the Electoral Act of 2022, Paragraphs 47 (1, 2 & 3) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act of 2022, as well as the Court’s inherent authority as referred to in Sections 6 (6) A & B of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

Whereas Atiku’s attorney, Mr. Adedamola Faloku, requested seven prayers from the tribunal in contrast to Obi, who asked the tribunal for six main reliefs in his application, designated CA/PEC/02M/23, which was filed by his team of attorneys under the leadership of Mr. Alex Ejesieme, SAN.

The applicants specifically convinced the court to order INEC to let them receive records that were in its possession and were used for the presidential election. They insisted that the required records would support their petition challenging the APC candidate Tinubu’s victory in the presidential election.

Furthermore, before or outside the pre-hearing session of the scheduled substantive petitions, Obi and Atiku were granted permission by the court to file their application.

The order, a copy of which a source obtained, stated in part: “That the 1st Respondent, that is INEC, is hereby directed to allow the Applicants inspect all the electoral materials used in the administration of the Presidential Election for the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on the 25th day of F-phrl.”

“That the Voter’s Registration and Ballot Papers used in the conduct of the election for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on the 25th day of February, 2023, are hereby permitted to be electronically scanned and/or photocopied by the Applicants.

The applicants are now given permission to perform a digital forensic examination of the BVAS devices utilized to conduct the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s presidential election on February 25, 2023.

Obi had asked for a ruling to prevent INEC “from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection is conducted and Certified True Copies of them issued” in the prayer that was rejected.

Justices Haruna Simon Tsammani and James Gambo Abundaga were also on the three-person appellate court bench that approved the applications.

There were 17 other candidates who ran for president, but Tinubu of the APC was declared the victor by INEC.

In order to overcome Atiku, who received a total of 6,984,520 votes, and Obi of the LP, who finished in third place with a total of 6,101,533 votes, Tinubu amassed a total of 8,794,726 votes, according to INEC. Since then, the PDP and LP have both declared that they will sue to overturn the election results.

Speaking to the media, Obi and his vice presidential candidate Datti Baba-Ahmed proclaimed their victory in the 2023 presidential election.

They stated that they were prepared to use the legal system to regain a mandate that they claimed Nigerians had granted them.

“We’ll investigate every available legal avenue to reclaim our mission. “We won the vote. Nothing can stop me from working toward a better future for the nation, Obi continued.

According to the Election Act of 2022, any candidate who is unhappy with the INEC’s return must file a petition with the tribunal within 21 days of the date the election results were announced. After receiving a petition, an election tribunal has 180 days to issue its written decision.