Appeal Court Fixes Date To Rule On Tinubu’s Application To Inspect BVAS Machines, Others

Appeal Court Fixes Date To Rule On Tinubu’s Application To Inspect BVAS Machines, Others

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday to rule on an ex parte request by President-elect Bola Tinubu to inspect electoral materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the February 25 election.

Mr Tinubu was declared the winner of the presidential election by INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu on March 1.

Mr Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, received 8.8 million votes, defeating both Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi of the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, respectively.

In preparation for filing petitions challenging the election results, Atiku and Mr Obi have indicated their intent to challenge, and Mr Tinubu has asked the Court of Appeal for permission to inspect sensitive electoral materials.

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The president-elect plans to inspect the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and election results, among other things, in preparation for his defense at the Presidential Election Petition Court, should Atiku and Mr Obi file a formal petition to challenge his victory.

On Tuesday, the President-lawyer, elect’s Akintola Makinde, urged the appellate court to grant him permission to “inspect, scan, and make photocopies of some of the electoral materials” in order to prepare his defense against Atiku and Mr Obi’s challenge at the tribunal.

“The materials will be relevant in helping us to prepare our defence and also make comparison with the information contained in INEC’s back-end server,” Mr Makinde said while moving the ex parte request.

Mr Tinubu filed the application alongside his party, the APC.

After hearing from Mr Makinde, the Court of Appeal panel led by Joseph Ikyegh scheduled a ruling on the application for Wednesday.

Similarly, Atiku and Mr Obi, along with their political parties, have obtained the same court permission to inspect sensitive electoral materials used in the election’s conduct.

Although INEC is seeking a court order to vary the permission previously granted to the PDP and LP presidential candidates.

The electoral umpire argued that the BVAS machines needed to be reconfigured for the Saturday, March 11 governorship and state parliamentary elections.