Obi Heads to Court For Ruling On BVAS Inspection Case

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi has headed to the Court of Appeal in Abuja to observe the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) case involving his party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

This comes as the court of appeal sitting in Abuja prepares to deliver a ruling on the application by INEC to be allowed to reconfigure BVAS it used for the presidential election.

Led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh, A three-member panel will also deliver a ruling on the application filed by the Labour Party (LP), and its candidate, Peter Obi, to be allowed to conduct a physical inspection of all the BVAS that was used for the poll.

Reason for Obi’s BVAS inspection case

Speaking on the suit, Obi’s Lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu, explained that the application will enable them to extract data embedded in the BVAS, which represented the actual results from polling units.

Ikpeazu asked the court to grant them permission to conduct a physical inspection on all the BVAS used for the presidential election. He added that this is to ensure that the evidence is preserved before the BVAS are reconfigured by INEC.

Obi’s lawyer further stressed that if they are wiped out, it will affect the substance of the case.

In response, the Counsel for INEC, Tanimu Inuwa urged the court to refuse the application. Tanimu insisted that approving the request by Obi and the Labour Party would affect its preparations for the impending governorship and state assembly elections.

How it all started?

INEC on Monday, 6th March 2023 approached the Appeal court for permission to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the March 11 state elections. The request for permission was necessitated by a restraining order placed on the electoral umpire from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until the due inspection was conducted.