BY GODWIN OBI
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, have called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to comply with the order of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) and allow them carry out forensic examination of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and all information stored in the server, IREV, backend, clouds, among others.
In a letter dated March 9 signed by its legal team, led by Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), the party recalled that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja and presided over by Justice Shagbaor Ikyegh, had granted the orders on March 3 in favour of PDP and Atiku.
They reminded INEC that the court had in the ruling, expressly directed it allow and grant access to the party and its presidential candidate and their representatives to inspect, scan, make copies, forensically audit and obtain Certified True Copies (CTC) of all electoral materials which were used in the conduct of the Presidential Election.
In the letter titled: “Demand for immediate compliance with court order granted on March 3, 2023 for access, inspection and examination/analysis of electoral materials used for 2023 presidential election” Gadzama said it was disturbing that despite the court order since March 3, INEC was yet to allow PDP and its representatives access, inspect and/or obtain the needed electoral material. He said this was despite repeated visits to the commission and follow-ups in respect of the matter.
“No doubt, the commission is bound by the orders of the court and cannot choose if, when and/or how to comply with same. The unqualified obligation of the commission, which of course includes INEC officials, is to unhesitatingly comply and give effect to the subsisting order of court; there is no discretion to exercise here,” he said.
Gadzama demanded that INEC immediately complies with the subsisting orders of the court. He also demand daily access to all polling documents, voters’ register, ballot papers and electoral forms/materials for purposes of scanning, forensic audit, expert examination and inspection.
He also sought daily access to the BVAS machines/devices and server/IREV/backend/clouds for purposes of forensic examination and analysis as well as CTCs of all BVAS accreditation reports, forms EC40A, EC8A, EC8AVP, EC8C, EC8D, EC8E and all other electoral forms/materials on a state by state basis.
“The court in order no. 6 specifically allowed our clients to carry out forensic examination/analysis of the BVAS machines/devices and all information stored in the server/IREV/backend/clouds, amongst others. We have attached the acknowledged copy of the court order for ease of reference. It is our clients’ brief that upon service of the order, they immediately requested for a date to follow up and they were asked to return on March 6.
“On 6 March, our clients’ representatives led by Adedamola Fanokun, (office of the PDP National Legal Adviser) returned to the commission ready to commence inspection, examination and obtaining of the electoral materials as ordered by the court but they were informed at the commission’s legal registry that there was no instruction yet from the commission on the court order.”
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