By Reporter
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, today March 8, 2023, refused the request of Dr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s Presidential candidate, Obi to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from reconfiguring the BVAS equipment used for the conduct of the February 25, 2023 Presidential election.
The Court concluded that granting the request would jeopardize the electoral body in the conduct of the March 11, 2023 Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
The accepted INEC’s position that, information on accreditation contained in the BVAS devices had been uploaded into its back up server and could be accessed in the future.
The Appellate Court predicated its agreement with INEC on the ground that all averments in the counter affidavit of the Electoral body were not challenged.
The Court said that granting the request of Obi and the Labour Party would tie down the hand of INEC in the conduct of the Saturday’s gubernatorial election.
The Court further held that the claims of INEC that information on the BVAS devices cannot be tampered with during uploading was not attacked by Obi and as such, deemed authentic.
It will be recalled that Midwest Herald, while breaking the story last Sunday March 5, 2023, revealed that INEC had concluded plan to get the legal backing to wipe informations relating to the February 25, 2023 Presidential election from the BVAS.
The situation this Midwest Herald, explained was akin to the egg and omelet.