Nigeria News

Obi lost legal battle to stop lNEC from reconfiguring BVAS

Published

2 weeks ago

March 8, 2023

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday granted the Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC, prayer to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, that was used in February 25, 2023 Presidential election to enable it use same for March 11, 2023 Governorship and State Assembly elections.

A three man panel of justices of the appellate Court headed by Justice Joseph Ikyegh unanimously granted the electoral body request .The Court said that the respondent Peter Obi and Labour Party did not challenge INEC affidavit that the result of the presidential election would be tempered with if it offload the polling units results into the back end server or cloud.

INEC had also in the said affidavit averred that it is an offence to release the ballot papers and voter finger prints contained in the BVAS arguing that a forensic analysis would expose the voters and breach their rights and law.

However, the Court of Appeal refused INEC other prayers to vary its order of March 3, 2023 that granted access to Peter Obi of Labour Party , LP, and Atiku Abubakar of People Democratic Party, PDP, to carried out Digital Forensic Inspection of other ” election materials that were used in the conduct of the Feb. 25, 2023 Election for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,”

It said that INEC did not met the condition precedent for variation of the court order. Besides , the court of Appeal said that INEC prayer for variation of its order of March was not specific but anchored on Electoral Act 2022.

Secondly, that the order made on March 3, 2023 was clear and that the court did not grant access to INEC Data Base.”We did not authorize the applicant access to Data Base”.

Four other applications filed by Ahmed Bola Tinubu and All Progressive Congress APC, against INEC ,Peter Obi , Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar and People Democratic Party, PDP, asking ofor leave to bring their applications and access to INEC election materials were equally granted by the Court of Appeal.

Meanwhile, INEC on Wednesday withdrew it’s application against Atiku Abubakar and People Democratic Party PDP . The electoral body withdrew the application following the Court refusal to vary the order of March 3,2023.

The panel had on Tuesday heard the seven separate applications brought by the interested parties and had reserved ruling till yesterday.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC was represented by Tanimu Innuwa SAN, while Dr Onyeachi Ipeazu SAN, represented Peter Obi and Labour Party, LP,
While Emeka Etiba SAN, represented Atiku Abubakar and People Democratic Party,PDP, Akintola Makinde represented Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Omoshoya Popoola represented All Progressives Congress APC.

Related Topics:BVAS Obi lost legal battle to stop lNEC from reconfiguring BVAS

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Gov. Sule of Nasarawa State wins second term bid

Published

2 hours ago

March 20, 2023

Editor 3

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), have declared

The incumbent Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) winner of last Saturday’ governorship election in the state.

Governor Sule, who was declared winner on Monday morning, defeated the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, David Umbugadu, by a margin of 64,193 to emerge winner.

While declaring the result, the INEC Collation Officer, Prof. Tanko Ishaya, said Sule scored 347,209 votes to defeat his closest rival David Umbugadu of People’s Democratic party (PDP), who polled a total of 283,016 votes.

Candidate of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Abdullahi Maidoya came third with 11,726 votes, while that of Social Democratic Party, (SDP) Mohammed Alfa Nyas got 9003 votes.

According to INEC, Sule won seven out of the 13 Local Government Areas in the state.

The state Collation Officer, said the total number of registered voters were 1,899,244, while the number of accredited voters were 668,978

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Abia APGA rejects Governorship Poll results as Labour Party leads

Published

4 hours ago

March 20, 2023

Editor 3

The results of the March 18 governorship poll in Abia state has been rejected by the All Progressives Grand Alliance. The Independent National Electoral Commission has so far announced results in 10 LGAs. In a statement signed on Monday by the APGA Chairman Abia State, Rev. Augustine Ehiemere, the party said it would not accept an election “marred by irregularities.” It, however, urged supporters to remain calm as they await the conclusion of the process. The statement read partly, “The results so far announced did not in any way reflect the will of the good people of Abia voters as demonstrated at the various polling units.“We are highly disappointed that the votes cast for our candidate, Professor Greg Ibe, were suppressed and not credited to him.“Regrettably too, there were brazen irregularities, including snatching of ballot papers, over-voting, unprecedented manipulation and violence against the opposition.“Most of the results were collated without recourse to BVAS machines, hence, they cannot be relied upon.“We appeal to our members to remain calm and watch things unfold. We firmly believe that light will triumph over darkness, and Abia emancipated from the chains of undemocratic forces.“The election was marred with irregularities in all parts of the state, and APGA cannot accept a highly flawed election.” Only ten local government results have so far been collated, and they include; Ukwa East, Umunneochi, Ukwa West, Bende, Isialangwa North, Isialangwa South, Arochukwu, Ugwunnagbo, Isuikwuato and Ikwuano. So far, the results announced puts the Labour Party in the lead with a margin of 13,132.

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BREAKING: INEC Declares PDP’s Mutfwang winner of Plateau Gov Election

Published

4 hours ago

March 20, 2023

Editor 3

The Plateau State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Caleb Mutfwang, has been declared as the winner of Saturday’s governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.The result declared by the INEC Presiding Officer, Musa Yusuf, after counting the votes scored by parties that participated in the election shows that Mutfwang had the highest votes beating the All Progressives Candidate, Nentawe Yilwatda.Recall that the PDP governorship candidate was reported to be taking an early lead as of 11 am when INEC resumed collations of results from the 17 local government areas of the state.Details later…