Reject Atiku’s BVAS exhibits, Tinubu, INEC tell tribunal

The Presidential Election Petitions Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, admitted a total of 337 exhibits tendered by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenging the emergence of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

At the resumed hearing in the matter, the PDP and Atiku, through their legal team, led by Chief Chris Uche (SAN), informed the court that the documents in evidence were in respect of 33 states of the federation, with the exclusion of Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Lagos states.

Among other documents that Atiku tendered before the court were results of the presidential election from Abia, Bayelsa, Kaduna and Ogun states.

The petitioners told the court that the certified results, which were contained in Forms EC8A, were downloaded by INEC from its I-Rev portal.

However, the respondents in the petition objected to the admissibility of the Certified True Copies of the documents which were presented before the court.

They said they would give reasons behind their objections, in their final written addresses.

 Tinubu, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanikpekun (SAN), objected to the tendering of information, which according to the petitioners were extracted from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines that were used for the conduct of the 2023 presidential election.

Also, the Independent National Electoral Commission, said it was also opposed to the admissibility of the documents but for the printout of data from BVAS it deployed to three states – Kogi, Sokoto and Rivers.

In a similar vein, the APC opposed the documents in evidence.

Furthermore, INEC’s team of lawyers led by Kemi Pinhero, SAN, opposed the admissibility of the downloaded results just as other respondents raised objections. 

However, the five-man panel of the PEPC headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani admitted the documents from the BVAS and marked them as Exhibits PT 1 to PT 33.

The tribunal admitted a total of 337 exhibits tendered by the PDP and Atiku.

Meanwhile, the tribunal, earlier in the day, adjourned till June 1, the hearing of the petition by Labour party and its candidate, Peter Obi against Tinubu.

The adjournment was at the instance of the LP legal team, led by Chief Awa Kalu (SAN), who informed the court that two key members of the team were ill and could not make it to court.

Kalu said, “My Lords, our plan for today’s proceedings was to start with the presentation of our documents, but unfortunately, we had some unexpected development.

“The unexpected development concerns the sudden illness of two of our key staff, for which reason I am constrained to ask for an adjournment till tomorrow (Thursday).

“It is with the greatest humility and apology that we make this application.

“I assure My Lords that we will be here tomorrow morning and we will proceed with vigour.”

Justice Haruna Tsammani granted the application and adjourned the petition till Thursday (today).