The Court of Appeal, on Wednesday granted the request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow it reconfigure the BVAS machines used during the February 25, presidential and National Assembly elections. The court had upon hearing two separate ex – parte applications on March 3, granted leave to the presidential candidates of the
The Court of Appeal, on Wednesday granted the request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow it reconfigure the BVAS machines used during the February 25, presidential and National Assembly elections.
The court had upon hearing two separate ex – parte applications on March 3, granted leave to the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic (PDP) Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) to inspect the election materials used by INEC to conduct the February 25 presidential election.
Dissatisfied with the order, INEC, on March 6, approached the court, asking it to vary the order to enable it reconfigure its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the March 11, governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections.
However, Atiku, PDP, Obi and LP objected to INEC’s request, insisting that INEC must not be allowed to tamper with the BVAS and other election materials.
According to the LP presidential candidate, the order for physical inspection of the BVAS machine will enable him conduct a forensic investigation.
Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu counsel for Mr. Obi and LP submitted that the party is seeking to obtain the Certified True Copies (CTC) of the materials as well as ensure the evidences are preserved before the BVAS are reconfigured.
Ruling on the INEC’s application on Wednesday, a 3-man panel of the Court of Appeal held that granting the objection by Mr. Obi, LP ,Alhaji Atiku and the PDP would jeopardize the electoral body in the conduct of the March 11 governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
The Court agreed with INEC that information on accreditation contained in the BVAS devices had been uploaded into its back up server and could be accessed at any time. The court also agreed with INEC on the ground that all averments in the counter affidavit of the Electoral body were not controverted by the respondents.
The Court said that granting the request of Mr. Obi and Labour Party (LP) would tie down the hand of INEC in the conduct of next Saturday’s elections.
Moreover, the panel noted that the claims of INEC that information on the BVAS devices cannot be tampered with during uploading or lost during the same purpose was not addressed by Obi and as such, deemed valid.
The Labour Party and Mr. Peter Obi had urged the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division to dismiss the application by the Independent National Electoral Commission, seeking to vary its earlier order granted the LP and Peoples Democratic Party to access and conduct physical inspection of materials used for the 2023 presidential poll.
Last Tuesday, a 3-man panel of the Appeal Court heard the application by INEC, and subsequently fixed Wednesday for ruling.
INEC, through it’s counsel, Tanimu Enuwa SAN, had informed the court of it’s motion on notice and a written addresses filed and dated 6th March as well as an affidavit and exhibits attached to substantiate their application.
When asked by the court on how they want the order varied, INEC maintained that their affidavit demonstrated the effect the order will have on the Match 11, 2023 election.
“We will run into constitutional crises if you have the elections conducted outside the constitutional time,” Mr Enuwa warned.
Also, the INEC lawyer submitted that they want the order to inspect election sensitive materials varied in accordance with Section 122 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
INEC pointed out that the application became necessary following an order restraining it from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies(CTC) of them were issued.
He said INEC would require sufficient time to reconfigure the BVAS needed to conduct the election that would take place in the 36 states of the federation excluding the FCT.
Mr Enuwa said the number of BVAS required to conduct the election across the states, INEC needs to reconfigure the BVAS used for the Feb. 25 elections and deploy them to polling units for the March 11 elections.
INEC maintained that setting aside the ex-parte order was important, adding that not getting it could result to a postponement of Saturday’s governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections.
