'BVAS refused to work' | 'INEC undermined process' — 5 takeaways from presidential election tribunal

THE CABLE

The presidential election petition tribunal continued proceedings on Thursday, with testimonies from witnesses of Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) and an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Here are five takeaways from the session.

OBI’S WITNESS ACCUSES INEC OF SABOTAGE

A witness presented by Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the election, alleged that INEC deliberately delayed the upload of election results.

Ahead of the 2023 polls, the IReV portal was part of the technologies introduced by INEC to improve the transparency of the electoral process.

The commission had assured that polling unit results would be uploaded to the portal in real-time — but during the presidential poll of February 25, the portal was inactive for some time after the conclusion of the exercise.

The development sparked controversy over the outcome of the election.

At the tribunal proceedings, Anthony Chinwo, a software engineer, claimed that he conducted investigations on the upload of results on the IReV portal by INEC.

Chinwo said he discovered the commission’s “plot to undermine the process”.

During cross-examination, Abubakar Mahmoud, counsel to INEC, asked the witness if he played any role during the election — but he said he was not involved.

“In paragraph 10 of your witness statement, you said you read the relevant provisions of the electoral act related to the use and deployment of BVAS. The opinion you give is based on your understanding?” Mahmoud asked.

The engineer responded in the affirmative to the question.

Mahmoud also asked the witness if he was familiar with any of the applications on the BVAS device.

The witness noted that he had no physical knowledge, but added that he was familiar with the backend server.

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