The Appeal Court on Wednesday, 8th March 2023, is set to give its ruling on INEC’s plans to approach to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the March 11 state elections.
This was disclosed in a report by the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday evening.
INEC approached the court after it granted leave to Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party to inspect election materials used by INEC to conduct the Feb. 25 presidential election.
Wednesday: The report stated that the Appeal Court on Wednesday deliver a ruling on the application by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) seeking leave to configure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the governorship election, adding:
- “INEC in its motion dated March 4, asked the appellate court to vary the ex parte order made in favor of the Labour Party and the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), with regards to the inspection of materials used for the presidential election.
They added that the Counsel to INEC, Tanimu Inuwa, SAN said the application became necessary following an order restraining it from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until the due inspection was conducted and Certified.
- “ He added that the commission would require sufficient time to reconfigure the BVAS needed to conduct the election that would take place on Saturday.
- “He told the court that INEC would “upload from back-end”.
- “In his argument, counsel for Obi, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN prayed the court not to grant INEC’s application as granting it would mean losing the original information there.
- ” All we are seeking is for a physical inspection of the BVAS so that the evidence is obtained before it will be configured,” he said.
Obi’s counsel opposed the INEC application and urged the court not to grant it, the report revealed that a three-member panel of the appellate court after listening to their submissions adjourned until Wednesday for the ruling.
What you should know
Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) earlier this week approached the Appeal Court on Monday, 6th March 2023, to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the March 11 state elections.
INEC said it became necessary due to an order restraining INEC from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until the due inspection was conducted adding that it requires sufficient time to reconfigure the BVAS needed to conduct the election that would take place in all 36 states of the federation.
