Presidential Tribunal Admits EU’s Election Report Against INEC, Tinubu

The final report of the European Union Election Observer Mission in Nigeria, which criticized the way the February 25 presidential election was conducted, has been accepted by the Presidential Election Petition Court. Yesterday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, submitted the paper to a five-member judicial panel chaired by Justice Haruna Tsammani, who accepted it. The document’s admissibility was contested by the attorneys for President Bola Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), the All Progressive Congress (APC), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN).

According to the EU mission’s report, only 31% of the results of the presidential election were posted on IREV, indicating that INEC’s conduct of the election lacked credibility, fairness, and transparency. Director of Information Technology (IT), Dr. Lawrence Bayode, testified for INEC as a witness, and PDP counsel Chris Uche (SAN) only mentioned the report during cross-examination. Uche had previously argued that Tinubu and APC attorneys should have conducted a cross-examination of the INEC witness first because to their shared opposition to the PDP lawsuit. The judge agreed and instructed them to cross-examine the witness first.

Dr. Bayode confessed in his main testimony that the electoral authority does not have an electronic system for collating election results, hence the presidential election result was not collated electronically. In particular, the INEC witness acknowledged that the electoral body’s presiding officers manually collated the results of the presidential election. The witness acknowledged, when being cross-examined by Chief Chris Uche (SAN), the lead attorney for Atiku Abubakar, that not all of the presidential election results had been uploaded into the INEC’s IREV as of March 1, 2023, when Tinubu had been proclaimed and confirmed as the victor of the February 25 presidential election.

ven though the witness testified in court that a technical issue prevented the uploading of the presidential election results, the witness conceded during cross-examination that the INEC did not notify Amazon Web Services (AWS) of the issue. The witness testified in court that form EC8A served as the foundation for the election results and that data and network service were necessary for the upload of the images of the results captured by the Biomodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) device. The witness was being cross-examined by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), lead counsel for President Tinubu.

While under cross-examination, the witness acknowledged that the INEC did not notify Amazon Web Services (AWS) of the technical issue that prevented the uploading of the presidential election results as the witness had claimed to the court. The witness testified in court during cross-examination by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), lead attorney for President Tinubu, that form EC8A served as the foundation for the election results and that data and network service were needed for the upload of images of the results taken by the Biomodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) device.

He further stated that election integrity will not be compromised by photos taken using BVAS, whether they are communicated electronically or manually, particularly in light of the fact that results entered into form EC8As were disclosed in front of and with the knowledge of party agents. When the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate Peter Obi filed their appeal, INEC was unable to respond until counsel for the commission, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), informed the court that one of the three witnesses due to be called was attending to family matters. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.