The presidential election tribunal has granted the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, its request to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, ahead of the state level elections scheduled for 11 March, 2023.
The counsel to Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, Onyechi Ikpeazu, had requested a court order permitting them to carry out an inspection of the BIVAS technology in order to provide proofs that the presidential election held on the 25th of February was manipulated, which the court granted.
The counsel similarly advised the court to ignore INEC’s request to go ahead and reconfigure the BIVAS, saying that such action might alter the evidence against the controversial presidential election conducted by the body.
However, the counsel to the electoral body, asked the tribunal to dismiss the request by the LP’s lawyer, noting that it would affect the upcoming gubernatorial elections.
He insisted that the reconfiguration was necessary to conduct the guber elections, noting that the presidential election results would be stored on the commission’s server.
Ruling on the request by the electoral body, the panel stated that the request for inspection of the election materials by Obi was repetitive, noting that it had already granted the request.
The court declared as abuse of process fresh motion with same request which made the judges strike out the motion and aligned with INEC’s stance that the data on the BIVAS would be stored on the server.
They panel held that could not tie the hands of the electoral umpire from making use of the machines for the gubernatorial elections.
However, the tribunal directed the electoral commission to avail the LP candidate with certified true copies of the poll materials.
