Tribunal Watches Video Evidence Of INEC Chairman Saying ‘No Going Back On BVAS Transmission In Real Time’

At the fully packed Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja on Saturday, a video recording was played showing when the Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood, assured Nigerians that there would be “no going back” on using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to accredit voters and transmit scanned polling unit results in real time.

Lawyers, numbering over hundred, aside the five-man panel of the court as well as visitors including Obi and his entourage, watched the video.

The flagbearer of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, had on Friday presented a Senior Reporter/Editor, Lucky Ukpewo from Channels Television as a subpoenaed witness before the court.

The TV station was subpoenaed to produce the live interviews granted by Mahmood and the electoral umpire’s spokesperson, Festus Okoye, regarding their assurance about the functionality of the BVAS for the 2023 election.

Lawyers representing INEC, President Bola Tinubu, Kashim Shettima and the All Progressives Congress, had raised objections against the witness and the evidence being admitted.

On Saturday, Obi’s legal team represented by J.S. Okutepa SAN sought leave of court to play videos regarding the election.

The court approved it.

The first video that was played was when the INEC Chairman held a meeting with political party leaders and other stakeholders, saying “there is no going back on the deployment of BVAS for voter accreditation and real-time transmission of results on election day.”

The next was the live interview Channels Television had with Festus Okoye where he admitted that there were challenges during the presidential election.

He was seen saying the Commission issued a statement relating to the inability of presiding officers to upload results from BVAS to IRev, adding there were technical glitches

Okoye added that those who have the knowledge about the technical glitches have made their own explanation to the Commission.

He also said the four leading political parties deployed over 100,000 party agents to the polling units and must have been given duplicate copies of the polling unit results sheet.

The other video that was played was when Tinubu announced Shettima as his running mate.

After the video evidence was played, INEC counsel, Oluwakemi Pineiro SAN, said he has no question for the witness.

Tinubu’s lawyer Akin Olujimi SAN, asked the journalist if the camera men that recorded the video including the INEC Chairman were still alive.

The witness responded in the affirmative.

The court subsequently discharged the journalist from the testimony dock.

Obi’s lawyer, Peter Afuba SAN, then tendered Certified True Copies of more electoral documents from Benue State( EC40GBU).

It was objected to by the respondents but the court admitted it as evidence.

Speaking to newsmen after the court rose, Okutepa said his intention was to make the judges take “judicial notice” of what the INEC Chairman said about the deployment of BVAS.

The petitioners are alleging that if the actual results in over 18,000 are collated, Obi would be the clear winner of the 2023 presidential election, not President Tinubu.