The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approached the Appeal Court for an order to allow it reconfigure its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the March 11 state elections.
A credible source in the commission hinted the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday that the order was significant following an order restraining it from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies of them issued.
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NAN recalls that the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday granted leave to the Presidential Candidates of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, to have access to all the sensitive materials used by INEC for the conduct of the Feb. 25 presidential election.
A panel of the appellate court led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh made the order after it heard two separate ex parte applications the two aggrieved presidential candidates filed alongside their political parties.
Specifically, the applicants urged the court to compel INEC to allow them to obtain documents it used for the presidential election to aid their petitions against the outcome of the presidential election.
“An order granting the applicants’ permission to do electronic scanning and make photocopies of voter’s registration, ballot papers used in the conduct of the election for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on the Feb. 25.
“An order granting leave to the applicants to carry out Digital Forensic Inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the Feb. 25 election for the Office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The plaintiffs also sought an order restraining INEC “from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies of them issued”.
The court in its consideration ordered INEC to allow the applicants inspect all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the presidential election.
The court permitted the appallants to do electronic scanning and/or make photocopies of Voter’s Registration, Ballot Papers used in the conduct of the presidential election.
“That leave is hereby granted to the applicants to carry out Digital Forensic Inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the Feb. 25, 2023 Election for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the court ordered. (NAN)