Three ad hoc staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who served as Presiding Officers during the February 25 general election, appeared before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC). These individuals testified that while they successfully transmitted results for the senatorial and House of Representatives’ elections using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine, they encountered difficulties when attempting to upload the results of the presidential election to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV).
Janet Turaki, Christopher Ardo, and Victoria Sani, who presided over polling units in Yobe, Bauchi, and Katsina states respectively, were summoned as witnesses by Abubakar Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Led by the petitioner’s counsel, Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, they expressed dissatisfaction with the entire election process due to their inability to transmit the presidential election results using the BVAS.
During cross-examination, Turaki confirmed the successful accreditation of voters and smooth voting at her polling unit. However, she encountered network issues when attempting to upload the presidential election results using the BVAS machine. Turaki subsequently handed over the necessary documents to her ward collation agent, filled out a complaint form provided by INEC, and signed the result on form EC8A along with other party agents before delivering it to the ward.
Ardo, when questioned by President Bola Tinubu’s counsel, Wole Olanipekin, SAN, expressed a sense of unfulfillment in his INEC assignment on the election day due to his inability to transmit the presidential election result as required by law.
In her testimony, Sani, under cross-examination by counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Charles Edosanwan, SAN, affirmed that she had performed her duties as a presiding officer to the best of her ability.
The proceedings adjourned until Tuesday, with the five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani continuing the hearing in the petition. Atiku and the PDP have approached the court to challenge the outcome of the February 25 presidential election. One of the grounds of their petition is the alleged failure of INEC to transmit election results to the IREV in real-time, contrary to Chairman Yakubu Mahmood’s pre-election statement.
