The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) admitted in evidence yesterday July 3, 2023, a certified true copy of the European Union Electoral Observer Mission’s final report on the 2023 general elections.
The mission had 110 observers from 25 EU member countries, as well as Norway, Switzerland, and Canada.
According to the assessment, which is filed as exhibit RA6, the February 25 election “exposed enduring systemic weaknesses, signalling the need for further legal and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability.”
President Bola Tinubu, his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had all opposed to the report, which was submitted by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The report had already been rejected by the presidency and INEC, who described it as the result of a poorly done desk job that depended mainly on a small number of people.
Regardless, INEC, which began and closed its defense in the suit filed by Atiku and the PDP, told the court through its only witness, Dr. Lawrence Boyade, that the contested election was free, fair, and substantially in accordance with the Electoral Act.
The main witness, the assistant director in charge of INEC’s Information Technology (ICT) department, presented the court with a document relating to malfunctions and the cloud trial log, as well as the certification that accompanied it.
During cross-examination, he told the court that the cloud trial log was retrieved from an INEC account with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Despite objections from counsel for the petitioners, the court entered the materials as exhibits RA3 and RA4, respectively.
Prior to that, INEC’s lead counsel presented a collection of documents containing letters from the APC addressed to the electoral commission, announcing Kashim Shettima’s withdrawal from the Borno Central senatorial district election.
Under cross-examination by President Tinubu’s counsel, the witness stated that whether or not photographs from the BVAS machines were physically or electronically uploaded to IRev had no bearing on the election’s integrity.
According to the witness, “the presidential election conducted by INEC and won by the second respondent (Mr Tinubu) was free, fair, and substantially in compliance with the electoral act.”
During cross-examination, he stated that “the glitch on the day of (the presidential) election did not affect the actual scores of the candidates at the election as the results of each candidate remained the same.”
He further stated that there was no automated collation of results following the ballot, which was done manually.
The counsel directed the witness’ attention to an INEC pre-election notice suggesting that computerized collation of results was not practicable, to which Mr Bayode replied affirmatively.
The announcement was published in the Nigerian Tribune on November 23, three days before the presidential election.
Following that, a certified true copy of the newspaper issue featuring an INEC notice about the electronic collation of results was tendered and admitted in evidence.
However, the PDP’s counsel argued that it was inadmissible. Under questioning from the PDP’s lawyer, Boyade testified that the purpose of INEC’s technological innovation in the 2023 election was to ensure transparency and integrity of the outcomes.
He also confirmed that the presidential and National Assembly elections were held on the same day and with the same BVAS equipment. The witness also stated that not all presidential election results were posted to IRev before the winner was declared on March 1.
He told the court that there is no built-in mechanism in the BVAS system that distinguishes the results of the presidential election from those of the National Assembly.
Boyade, on the other hand, contended that the commission did not have an electronic coalition center and that it was run manually.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu will file his plea to defend his election victory today. This is stated in the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku.
President Tinubu’s counsel made this known after INEC ended its case against Atiku after calling only one witness.
After summoning the lone witness, Mr Lawrence Bayode, and presenting certain documentary documents in evidence, the electoral umpire opened and closed its case against the petitioners.
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