Published 8th Mar, 2023

By Sodeeq Atanda

The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has granted the prayers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reconfigure BVAS machines ahead of the March 11 subnational elections.

INEC’s request followed the court’s ruling which granted the Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s request to access and get election data from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines in their bid to contest the outcome of the presidential election in court.

The three-man panel of justices unanimously granted the commission’s application and struck out LP’s objection to the request.

The tribunal stated that refusing the application would amount to “tying the hands of the respondent, INEC,” The Punch reported.

While ruling on the application, the court explained that the data relevant to LP and Obi’s case could not be lost on the commission’s backup server.

It further stated that allowing the LP’s objection would constitute an impediment to the March 11 governorship and state assembly elections and described the parties’ simultaneous applications seeking the same order as an abuse of court process.

Addressing the court, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, Obi’s lead counsel, said, “My lords, this is to ensure that the evidence is preserved before the BVAS are reconfigured by INEC. This is because if they are wiped out, it will affect the substance of the case.”

Tanimu Inuwa, INEC legal team lead, told the court Obi’s application would delay the coming elections.

The tribunal, however, sustained INEC’s argument on its application.

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