The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) on Wednesday quashed the allegations of non-transmission of results of the polls electronically stating that the Electoral Act 2022 did not compel transmission through that means only.
The trio of Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, and the APM not satisfied with the INEC declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election, approached the Tribunal, seeking the annulment of Tinubu’s victory, citing some anomalies in the election especially INEC’s “failure” to upload election results real-time on its much-publicized “Results Viewing Portal (IReV) in line with the provision of Section 60 of the Electoral Act 2022.
Justice Haruna Tsammani, who led a five-man panel of Judges, picked holes in the trio’s accusation, noting that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS ) is the only technological device that was mandatory for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to use for the 2023 election.
He contended that the issue of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and INEC Regulations and Guidelines does not arise since there is nothing in the regulation to show that the BVAS must electronically transmit polling unit results.
The INEC’s Results Viewing Portal (IReV), the Tribunal posited, is not a collation system, citing judgment in the case of Oyetola vs. INEC.
“There is no provision for the electronic transmission of election results in the Electoral Act 2022,” says Justice Tsammani. “It is at best optional.”
Comments are closed.