UPDATE: INEC ANNOUNCES POSTPONEMENT OF GOVERNORSHIP ELECTIONS TO MARCH 18TH

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By ‘Leke Yusuf

The Independen National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the postponement of this Saturday’s Governoship and State Houses of Assembly elections, by one week.

The election will now hold on Saturday, March 18, 2023.

INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye; stated this on Wednesday night.

The postponement was due to the commission’s inability to promptly commence reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines utilized during the February 25 presidential election to enable their use in the state elections.

INEC was earlier restrained from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies (CTC) issued to candidates who are challenging the outcome of the presidential election.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Presidential Election Petiton Court, PEPC, sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Wednesday, gave the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the nod to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, it used for the presidential election.

The court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of Justices, held that stopping the electoral body from reconfiguring the BVAS would adversely affect the impending Governorship and State Assembly elections.

It dismissed objections that the Labour Party, LP, and its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, raised against INEC’s move to reconfigure all the BVAS.

According to the court, allowing the objections by Obi and his party, would amount to “tying the hands of the Respondent, INEC”.

Besides, it noted that INEC had in an affidavit it filed before the court, assured that the accreditation data contained in the BVAS could not be tampered with or lost, as they would be stored and easily retrieved from its accredited back-end server.

It further observed that neither Obi nor LP controverted the depositions in INEC’s affidavit, stressing that since such averments were not challenged, it amounted to admission by the Applicants.

Nevertheless, the court ordered INEC to allow the Applicants to inspect and carry out digital forensic examination of all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the elections, as well as to avail them the Certified True Copy, of result of the physical inspection of the BVAS.

The Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led panel faulted Obi and LP for repeating their request to be allowed to scan and make copies of the electoral materials in INEC’s possession.

Noting that the request was earlier granted, the panel held that repeating the prayer amounted to an abuse of court process.