There was a mild drama at Nigeria’s Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Thursday, after Labour Party, along with its presidential candidate Peter Obi, filed a request with the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja, seeking an order to interrogate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s election ICT officers. One of the key aspects of their requests, according to Punch, pertained to obtaining detailed information regarding the information and communication technology (ICT) experts employed by INEC for the election held on February 25.
The LP and Obi have challenged the declaration made by INEC, which stated that Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress emerged as the winner of the election. In their pursuit of justice, Obi’s lawyer, Patrick Ikweto (SAN), presented two separate motions before the court, containing a series of 12 questions that they wished to forward to INEC. These questions aimed to support their petition by probing the integrity of the election process.
The petitioners argued that granting their interrogatory application would be instrumental in solidifying their claims of flaws in the conduct of the election. However, INEC’s counsel, Kemi Pinhero (SAN), objected to the application, asserting that it was filed outside the specified time frame permitted by law. Pinhero contended that by presenting the application during the pre-hearing session, the court was stripped of its jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Election ICT Officers and APC, INEC’s Stern Resistance
Akin Olujimi (SAN), the legal representative for Tinubu, and Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the counsel for the APC, also opposed the petitioners’ request to interrogate election ICT officers. Consequently, the presiding Justice, Haruna Tsammani, reserved the ruling on Obi and his party’s interrogatory applications, while scheduling further hearings for the following day.
Meanwhile, on the same day, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, proceeded with their first subpoenaed witness at the Presidential Election Petition Court, despite objections raised by the respondents. The witness, Friday Egwuma, previously an ad hoc staff member of INEC, testified that he served as the Presiding Officer at Polling Unit 17 in Aba North, Abia State.
During his testimony, Egwuma informed the court about encountering technical glitches while attempting to upload the captured presidential results to the INEC Results Viewing Portal. He alleged that the results could not be transmitted electronically in real-time after being recorded on the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System. Notably, Egwuma clarified that this difficulty was specific to the presidential results, as the senatorial and House of Representatives election results were smoothly transmitted to the portal without any issues.
However, Egwuma acknowledged the availability of an offline mode as an alternative option in such circumstances. Before the witness testified, the respondents had raised objections to the admissibility of his deposition. The court postponed its ruling on this objection, reserving it for the final judgment.
Jerrymusa.com summarises that the Labour Party and Peter Obi sought permission from the Presidential Election Petition Court to interrogate INEC regarding the ICT experts involved in the February 25 election. They challenged the election result, while the PDP and Atiku Abubakar called their first witness, Friday Egwuma, who testified about technical glitches during the uploading of presidential results. The court reserved rulings on various objections and scheduled further hearings.