Saturday’s governorship and state assembly elections across the country may be postponed unless the appellate court changes its decision on the relief granted to the Peoples Democratic Party PDP presidential candidates, Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party LP opponent, Peter Obi.
Last week, the court barred the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from interfering with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, which was used in last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Obi’s team of lawyers, led by Mr Alex Ejesieme, SAN, sought six major reliefs in his motion, while Atiku’s counsel, Adedamola Faloku, asked seven petitions from the tribunal.
Among the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs was: An order granting the applicants permission to do electronic scanning and make photocopies of voter’s registration, and ballot papers used in the conduct of the election for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on the 25th day of February 2023.
“An order granting leave to the applicants to carry out Digital Forensic Inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the 25th February 2023 election for the Office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The plaintiffs also sought an order restraining “the First Respondent from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until the due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies of them issued”.
The court granted the reliefs and with regards to the BVAS, said; “That leave is hereby granted to the applicants to carry out Digital Forensic Inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the 25th February 2023 Election for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”