The Appeal Court has rejected the request by the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi to inspect Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines used for the February 25 election.
Obi had sought the court for permission to inspect the BVAS machines in a bid to help his legal team prepare ahead of the tribunal.
However, the court refused Obi’s plea as it allowed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to continue with reconfiguration of the machines ahead of the governorship and state assembly elections on Saturday.
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In a ruling delivered on Wednesday, a three-member panel led by Joseph Ikyegh, the court held that restraining the electoral commission would constrain the conduction of the March 11 elections.
In an application, Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), had sought an order of the court “restraining the 1st respondent (INEC) from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until the due inspection is conducted and certified true copies (CTC) of them issued.”
Court grants Tinubu access to inspect electoral materials
Meanwhile, the appellate court in Abuja has granted the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, access to inspect electoral materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission during February 25, 2022, general elections.
Tinubu’s lawyer, Akintola Makinde, had on Tuesday asked the court for access to inspect, scan and make photocopies of some of the electoral materials to enable him prepare his defence against petitions that would seek to nullify his election.
“The materials will be relevant in helping us to prepare our defence and also make comparison with the information contained in INEC’s back-end server,” Makinde said.
Tinubu, who the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the winner of the February 25 poll with 8,794,726 votes, ahead of Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), who secured 6,101,533 votes.
