Television Nigerian

Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate for president in the most recent election, has withdrawn his request to the court for permission to watch the Independent National Electoral Commission reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines (INEC).

On March 8, the Court of Appeal in Abuja gave the electoral umpire permission to proceed with the reconfiguration of the BVAS used to conduct the presidential election on February 25.
Following its conclusion that the BVAS data on the presidential elections can be safely stored in an accredited backend server, the appellate court led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh gave INEC the go-ahead to reconfigure the BVAS machines for use in the rescheduled governorship and state House of Assembly elections on March 18.

Atiku and Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party (LP), were allowed to inspect election materials, including the BVAS machines used to conduct the presidential election, thanks to an earlier order from the court that had been modified by the electoral umpire.

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They had based their request on the fact that the governorship and state House of Assembly elections would not take place as originally planned unless the court’s order was changed to allow for the reconfiguration for the governorship election. They had also argued that the same BVAS machines used for the presidential elections would be used for the governorship and state House of Assembly elections.
As a result of the BVAS machines’ reconfiguration, INEC announced shortly after the permission was granted that the governorship and state House of Assembly elections would be held on March 18 instead of March 11.

In the meantime, Atiku and his party, the PDP, asked the appellate court for permission to watch INEC officials reconfigure the BVAS machines in a motion on notice filed on March 13 and designated CA/PEC/13m/2023.

He had also submitted a second motion exparte asking for permission to use an alternative method of serving Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the winner of the presidential election, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), namely by serving the papers on their staff or posting them on their property.

Ifeanyi Iboko, an attorney for Atiku and the PDP, called the appellate court’s attention to a notice of discontinuance filed in connection with the two cases on Wednesday when the case was called.

Iboko clarified that the discontinuation was justified by the fact that recent events had rendered the two motions unnecessary.

The two motions were subsequently dismissed by the appellate court as a result of the respondents’ withdrawal and lack of opposition.

After collating the results from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu declared Tinubu the winner of the presidential election on March 1 because he received the most votes cast.

Tinubu won the election with more than eight million votes, followed by Atiku with almost seven million and Obi with just over six million.
Like Tinubu and Atiku, who each won 12 states, Obi won 11 states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Both Atiku and Obi promised to air their complaints at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, which is the court tasked with hearing and ruling on cases pertaining to the conduct of the presidential election, after Tinubu was declared the election’s victor.

Atiku and Obi requested a court order allowing them to inspect the materials used for the February 25 presidential election in separate motions exparte while they have not yet filed their respective petitions.

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Atiku and Obi were given permission to inspect “all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the election for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on February 25, 2023,” according to Justice Ikyegh’s ruling on the exparte, which was delivered on March 3.

Additionally, the court gave them permission to electronically scan and/or make copies of the presidential election ballots and registration forms.

Also allowed by the order is “carrying out digital forensic inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the February 25” presidential election for Atiku and Obi.

However, INEC disagreed with the ruling and petitioned the appellate court to change the ruling on the grounds that granting Atiku and Obi access to its database would reveal voters’ names and the ballots they cast in the presidential election.

Additionally, INEC requested that the court change the order because it might have an impact on how the March 11 governorship and state House of Assembly elections are conducted.

Sensitive materials for the governorship and House of Assembly elections in Lagos State are now being distributed by the Independent National Electoral Commission to the state’s various local government areas.

On Wednesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria delivered the sensitive materials (ballot papers and results sheets) to INEC.

Several stakeholders watched the exercise, which was overseen by Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Lagos State, and CP Idowu Owohunwa, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police.

The materials were distributed to the 20 LGA offices in the state by INEC Electoral Officers who were present on the ground.
Speaking to reporters, Agbaje urged stakeholders’ cooperation and support, noting that INEC was prepared to conduct free, fair, and credible elections on Saturday.

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He claims that the sensitive materials are protected and undamaged so that all interested parties can see the commission’s transparency.

He mentioned that starting on Thursday, the councils’ materials would start to be distributed to the state’s 245 wards.
In order to ensure that materials arrived at Registration Area Centers and Polling Units on time on Friday and Saturday morning, respectively, he said INEC wanted to take certain measures.

As the date for the governorship and house of assembly elections, March 18, approaches, we are back here. On Saturday, elections will be held in 40 constituencies throughout Lagos State.
And now we’re at the CBN to gather our sensitive materials, which security agencies will then transport to all 20 local government areas in the state, Agbaje said.

The head of INEC claimed that in order to demonstrate the commission’s transparency, the exercise was conducted in full view of representatives from civil society organizations, political party agents, observers, and the media.

Agbaje stated that the commission had urged security organizations to stop such on Saturday.

The police commissioner has assured us that the situation will be better this time, he continued.

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He claims that in order to increase security and ensure a free and fair election, the commission is in constant communication with members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security.
The commissioner of police, who was represented by ACP Sagir Ismail, reassured residents and voters during his remarks that there would be enough security personnel on hand to ensure security on election day.

He exhorted locals to exercise their right to do so without fear.