"All Data on BVAS Will Be Safe During Reconfiguration": INEC Assures Nigerians, Court
- The 2023 presidential election tribunal and opposition political parties have been assured that the data on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is safe
- This assurance was handed to Peter Obi of the Labour Party and the tribunal by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
- According to the commission, the data on the BVAS will be transferred to the commission's server during its planned reconfiguration of the machines
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that all the data on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for February 25 presidential poll is intact.
Tanimu Inuwa, the commission's lead counsel in the presidential elections tribunal matter between the Labour Party's flagbearer, INEC and the president-elect, gave the assurance on Tuesday, March 7, at the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
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While opposing an application filed by the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on BVAS deployed in the presidential poll, Inuwa said all the information on the BVAS is safe, the Punch reports.
He, however, informed the court that there is a need for the BVAS to be reconfigured to be used for the governorship and House of Assembly election scheduled for Saturday, March 11.
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Inuwa argued that failure to re-configure the BVAS would delay the conduct of governorship and state house of assembly elections.
INEC's argument followed a submission by Obi's lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu, that the essence of the application was to enable the legal team to extract data embedded in the BVAS.
Ikpeazu said the data on the BVAS represents the actual results from polling units in the presidential election conducted on Saturday, February 25.
He said;
“My lords, this is to ensure that the evidence is preserved before the BVAS are reconfigured by INEC. This is because if they are wiped out, it will affect the substance of the case."
To this, Inuwa urged the court to refuse the application stating that granting the request by Obi would affect its preparations for the upcoming governorship and House of Assembly elections.
He also informed the court that there were about 176,000 BVAS machines that were deployed in polling units during the presidential election, and the same will be used for the March elections.
Inuwa argued:
“We have already stated in our affidavit that no information in the BVAS will be lost as we will transfer all the data in the BVAS to our backend server.
“We need the BVAS configured. So, granting this application will be a clog in the process and may delay the conduct of the elections."
Having listened to the parties, the judge presiding over the matter, Justice Joseph Ikyegh, adjourned ruling on the case till Wednesday, March 8.
INEC makes strong move as Peter Obi, Atiku head to court
The 2023 presidential election tribunal had earlier been urged to vary the inspection request granted to Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar of the labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party.
The call was made to the tribunal by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Saturday, March 4.
INEC said the commission would require to re-configure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System used for the presidential and National Assembly elections for the next round of elections.
"Tinubu not our president-elect": Fiery Abuja preacher makes unbelievable statement days after election
Pastor Sarah Omakwu of the Family Worship Centre said that Bola Tinubu is not the true president-elect for Nigeria.
The lead pastor of the church warned that Tinubu is a president-elect for the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the ruling party.
According to the preacher, a new president-elect who will emerge through a fair, credible and transparent process will be declared.
Source: Legit.ng
