INEC Closes Defence in Obi’s Petition after Calling One Witness

* As Tinubu, APC open Wednesday 

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday closed its defence in the petition by Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), after calling just one witness in defence of the February 25 presidential election that produced Bola Tinubu as President.

Although, INEC through its lead lawyer, Mr Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), at Monday’s proceedings, told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PREPEC) that the first respondent has scheduled three witnesses in proving that the election it conducted was free, fair and devoid of irregularities and substantial non-compliance as alleged by the petitioners, announced on Tuesday that it is closing its case, after the end of cross-examination of its first and only witness, Dr Lawrence Bayode.

INEC had closed its case against Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after calling the same witness.

However, Bayode, who is the Deputy Director of INEC’s Information Technology (IT) Department at Tuesday’s proceedings, told the court that he and his team of IT experts worked to fix the glitches on its system that occurred during the February 25 presidential election.

Under cross-examination by other respondents in the petition, the witness stated that the foundation and authenticity of any election by INEC is rooted in forms EC8A and EC8E, adding that the blurred documents downloaded from INEC’s IreV would not affect the physical results in form EC8A because the image there is not relevant. 

According to the IT expert, an election process can only be said to be completed when the counted ballots at the polling units are recorded, snapped and sent through the BVAS to the INEC’s IreV. 

Responding to questions from the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) counsel, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the witness, who explained that the physical results are used for computing the election final results, maintained that the glitches that occurred on the day of the election did not affect the collation of the results. 

He added that if what was downloaded from the IreV was not clear, the physical results could also be obtained. 

Under cross-examination by the counsel to the petitioners, Mr. Patrick Ikwueto (SAN), the witness agreed that the e-Transmission application was tested on February 4, 2023 before it was deployed for use during the presidential election.

While denying that INEC’s system was not vulnerable, the witness explained that the report of the e-Transmission application identifies remediation to be undertaken to resolve the high vulnerability identified in the report.

At the end of cross-examination, Mahmoud announced to the court that the first respondent would be closing its defence in the petition filed by Obi and his party against Tinubu’s election.

Subsequently, the five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani called on Tinubu and APC to enter into their defence.

Responding, Tinubu’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), informed the court that his client will be opening his defence on Wednesday, July 5.

Obi and his party are currently challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

Respondents in the suit are the INEC, President Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima and the APC. 

Specifically, Obi and LP anchored their petitions on grounds of alleged irregularities, corrupt practices, non-compliance with the electoral laws as well as non-qualification.

They are asking the court to declare them winners of the poll or order a fresh election in the event that their petition succeeds.

In total Obi and LP called 13 witnesses including experts and INEC’s ad hoc staff before closing their case on June 23.