The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the majority of the documents presented by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before the Presidential Election Petition Court. The rejection came as a result of the admissibility of documents in accordance with the pre-hearing reports, which are binding on all parties involved in the petition as per the court’s order.
Atiku Abubakar and the PDP now face the challenge of dealing with the rejection of documents that were expected to support their case before the petition court, as all the respondents seem unwilling to consent to the admissibility of those documents. This stands in contrast to the submissions made by INEC during the pre-hearing stage, where they stated that they would not object to any document that was fully certified by the commission.
During the proceedings, Atiku and PDP’s counsel, Chris Uche SAN, stated that the team had prepared a second schedule of documents to be tendered, emphasizing that the documents had been fully served on the respondents.
Among the documents tendered in court were INEC Certified True Copies of declaration of results, summary of results, printouts of the BVAS (Biometric Voter Accreditation System) report for each polling unit in the 36 states, and the number of PVCs (Permanent Voter Cards) collected in the 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The petitioners also presented printed copies of BVAS and accreditation data, with details such as the time stamp, for 33 states. However, INEC’s counsel, Abubakar Mahmoud, objected to the admissibility of most of the documents, except for those pertaining to Kogi, Sokoto, and Rivers states. They also did not consent to the use of downloaded materials from the IREV portal, which included information on polling units that were cancelled and voters who were unable to vote.
Despite the objections, the Petitioners’ counsel requested that the court consider the documents as read, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 46(A) of the first schedule of the Electoral Act. Justice Haruna Tsammani admitted the documents as evidence and subsequently adjourned the hearing to June 1, 2023.
Earlier in the day, the hearing of Peter Obi and the Labour Party’s petition at the Presidential Election Petition Court was disrupted due to the illness of two key staff members at the secretariat. Awa Kalu, counsel for Obi and the Labour Party, informed the court that the presentation of documents, which had been planned by the petitioners, could not be carried out as a result.
As a result of this delay, Obi and the Labour Party, who were initially given three weeks to present their case, now have 19 days remaining to call 49 more witnesses. On the other hand, Atiku and the PDP have yet to call any witnesses but have already submitted all exhibits before the court.
