July 03, (THEWILL) – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday concluded its defence in the petition by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the declaration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the February 25 presidential election.
INEC’s lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), announced the closure of his client’s case on Monday at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), after presenting one witness, Dr. Lawrence Bayode, who is an Information Technology (IT) Practitioner with the Commission.
The electoral body equally tendered four documentary exhibits in evidence, among which included a letter dated July 6, 2022, which the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, wrote to notify it of his decision to withdraw as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the Borno Central Senatorial election.
Led in evidence by Mahmoud, INEC’s lead counsel, Bayode tendered the letter and its accompanying certification, which was admitted in evidence and marked as Exhibits RA-1 and RA-2.
During cross-examination Bayode, Kayode insisted that there were glitches experienced during the transmission of the presidential election results which affected the real-time transmission of the results.
Bayode further told the court that the results of the presidential election were not electronically collated, saying it was done manually.
“INEC does not have an electronic collation system,” he insisted, adding that INEC had few days to the presidential poll, and announced that electronic transmission of results of the election would not be feasible”, he said.
However, while being cross-examined by counsel to the Petitioners, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), the witness, told the court that the European Union (EU) Observation Mission was accredited by INEC to monitor the 2023 general elections.
Asked if he was aware that the EU has released its final report on the election, the witness, said: “Yes I am aware, but I have not seen it.”
When he was shown a certified copy of the EU’s report and asked to read from a portion of it, the Respondents raised objections.
Though they opposed the admissibility of the report as part of the proof of evidence in the case, Justice Haruna Tsammani-led’s five-member panel of the court admitted it in evidence as Exhibit RA-6.
Following a nod by the panel, the witness, read a paragraph in the report where the EU stated that 2023 was not “a transparent and inclusive election” as promised by the INEC.
He also read a portion of the report that stated that “only 31% of results uploaded in I-REV was formally or mathematically correct.”
The witness, however, maintained that technological innovations that INEC introduced into the electoral process were to guarantee transparency and integrity of the results.
After Mahmoud announced the closure of his client’s case, the lawyer to Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) informed the court that the second respondent (Tinubu) will open his defence on Tuesday, July 4.
