Court give INEC go ahead to reconfigure BVAS dem use for presidential election

Di Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, wey dey sit for di Court of Appeal for Abuja Nigeria capital don give di Independent National Electoral Commission, Inec, di go ahead to reconfigure di Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, wey dem use for di presidential election.

BVAS na di new voting device wey dey for cross-checking voters names for di Register of Voters.

E dey authenticate voters wit di use of dia fingerprints or facials. Di BVAS also get camera and di capacity to snap Polling Unit level result and upload am to di INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal so dat citizens go fit view results as election dey end for each Polling Unit.

Di court for dia unanimous decision by di three-member panel of Justices, rule say if dem stop Inec from reconfiguring di BVAS, e go affect di upcoming Govnorship and State Assembly elections.

Di court dismiss di objections wey di Labour Party, LP, and dia Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, raise against Inec's move to reconfigure all di BVAS.

According to di court, if dem allow di objections by Obi and im party, e go lead to "tying di hands of di respondent, INEC".

Court also note say Inec inside one affidavit dem file before di court, assure say di accreditation data wey dey inside di BVAS, notin go tamper wit am and e no go loss sake of say dem go store am and fit retrieve am easily from dia accredited back-end server.

Court also observe say neither Obi nor LP raise any controversy of di depositions for Inec affidavit.

Court further add say since dem no challenge am, e mean say dem admit wetin di applicants tok.

Labour Party thru dia team of lawyers wey Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN, dey lead say di essence of di application na to allow dem collect data wey dey inside di BVAS" wey represent di actual results from di polling units"

Dem specifically apply for; "leave to carryout digital forensic and physical inspection of BVAS, etc", as well as to obtain di Certified True Copy, CTC, of all di data inside di BVAS.

"My lords, dis na to ensure say di evidence dey preserved before Inec reconfigure di BVAS.

Dis na sake of say, if dem wipe am e go affect di substance of our case", Ikpeazu, SAN, tok

While opposing di application, Inec insist say granting di request go affect di preparations for di upcoming Govnorship and National Assembly elections.

E tell court say na a total of 176, 000 BVAS wey dem deploy to polling units during di presidential election.

"Each polling unit get dia own particular BVAS machine wey we need to configure for di forthcoming elections.

"E go dey very difficult for us, within di period, to reconfigure di 176, 000 BVAS.

"We don already tok for our affidavit say no information for di BVAS go loss and we go transfer all di data wey dey inside di BVAS to our back-end server.

"We need di BVAS configured. So, granting dis application fit delay di conduct of di elections", INEC's lead lawyer, Tanimu Inuwa, SAN, bin tok

Tinubu, Atiku, and Obi fit inspect election material

Meanwhile, court order Inec to allow di applicants to inspect and carry out digital forensic examination of all di election materials wey dem use for di conduct of di presidential elections, and make dem also give dem di Certified True Copy, of result of di physical inspection of di BVAS.

Di panel wey Justice Joseph Ikyegh dey lead fault Obi and LP sake of say dem dey repeat dia request say make dem allow dem to scan and make copies of di election materials wey dey INEC hand.

Dem note say dem don grant di request earlier.

Di panel hold say repeating di prayer amount to an abuse of court process.

Meanwhile, Atiku Abubakar and PDP lawyer J.K Gazama for di case between dem and Inec wey concern to inspect materials wey dem use for di 25 February 2023 elections, bin summarise wetin di three man panel of judges tok.

"Without di access to get all dis tins wey I don mention mean say e go affect our petition indirectly and we get right under di electoral act section 122, 146 and 74"

E explain say e also favour dem as Inec use dia hand withdraw before court strike am out. Im say section 36 of di constitution all 'fair hearing' for di prospective petitioners.

Make we see wetin go happen in di next few days. We go revert to Inec and tell dem to comply"

"Una remember say we bin argue one exparte application by Atiku and di PDP and court bin grant am. And dem grant several orders too wey go allow us do forensic examination on di BVAS, di devices, di back ends and also to get access to di cloud, IREV and di portal in addition to get photocopies and scanned copies of di ballot papers, all election materials wey dem use for di 25 February Presidential and National Assembly elections"

Im say to dia surprise and advantage to vary di order wey inec request few days ago, Inec use dia hand withdraw di order and court to strike am out.

E also explain di legal meaning of di motion of notice wey bring dem to court wey court too strike out.

"E mean say di reliefs wey court grant on 3 March 2023 still stand. Dem need to comply with di court to grant us access within seven days to get evritin wey we need.

Di Court of Appeal for Abuja also grant an exparte application by di Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC Bola Tinubu to give dem access to election materials wey dem use for di 25 February Presidential elections.

For di ruling of di three-member panel wey Justice Joseph Ikwegh lead, di Appeal Court grant di APC presidential candidate access to di electoral materials and to make photocopies of dem.

APC presidential candidate Tinubu bin request to get access to di electoral materials, so dat e go help di legal team to prepare for dia defence during hearing of di suit wey Atiku Abubakar of di PDP and Labour Party file, sake of say dem no like di way dem do di presidential election.

'Govnorship election go happun on 11 March'

Inec Lawyer Tanimu Mohammed tell tori pipo wetin di ruling mean. According to am, dem don remove all di fear for Nigerians mind say di Govnorship and National Assembly elections no go hold.

"Di two elections go happun as INEC schedule am.

Di Govnorship election and di House of Assembly elections go happun on 11 March.

To reconfigure di BVAS machine no go tamper wit di data wey dey inside as we go save am for our back end server"