INEC asks tribunal to modify inspection order granted Atiku, Obi

Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, the candidates for the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, respectively, were each given orders to inspect the materials used for the previous presidential election. The Independent National Electoral Commission has urged the Presidential Election Petition Court to modify those orders.

In a move on notice submitted on March 4, INEC asks the court to change the ruling that barred it from tampering with election-related materials.

The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, according to the commission, needed to be modified in time for the upcoming election.

Read Also: US Ambassador: Presidential election failed to meet Nigerians’ expectations

Atiku of the PDP and Obi of the Labour Party were given permission by the appellate court to examine election documents used by INEC to conduct the February 25 presidential election on March 3 (the appeals court’s decision).
After two separate ex parte applications were submitted by Atiku and Obi, who finished second and third in the presidential election won by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, the court granted the two candidates’ requests.

The commission has asked the court to modify the injunction so that it can reconfigure its BVAS for the March 11 gubernatorial and state house of assembly elections in the application that it filed and that NAN was able to view.

The election umpire’s motion to the court, according to NAN, has just this one prayer.
For the application’s hearing, however, no date has been set.

According to a reliable source within the commission, the application was required as a result of a court order prohibiting it from altering the data stored on the BVAS machines until a proper inspection had been carried out and Certified True Copies of them had been given.

The insider claimed in an off-camera interview that the commission would need enough time to modify the BVAS required to conduct the poll, which would take place in the 36 states of the federation except the FCT.

The source claims that INEC needs to modify the BVAS used for the February 25 elections and deploy them to polling places for the March 11 elections because of the quantity of BVAS needed to conduct the election throughout the states.

Read Also: 2023 election results: INEC’s Certificate of Return like World Cup – Tinubu

The source claimed that the commission’s technical team had to be sent out promptly to begin the one-by-one reconfiguration of the devices.

According to the source, if the order was not received, the Saturday elections for the state houses of assembly and governor could be postponed.