Stakeholders React As INEC Challenges Atiku, Peter Obi’s Suit On BVAS

By Damilare Adeleye

Political actors have expressed different views on the request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from the Presidential Election Petition Court to vary the orders that were granted to the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, respectively.

Recall that the court granted the presidential candidates the order to inspect INEC’s sensitive materials used for the conduct of the last presidential election.

A panel of the appellate court led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh granted the permission following two separate ex-parte applications filed by Atiku and Peter Obi.

Meanwhile, in a motion on notice filed on March 4, INEC is praying the court to vary the order which restrained it from tampering with materials used for the election.

The commission said it needed to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for the next round of elections slated for March 11.

In the application filed by the commission, INEC is asking the court to vary the order to allow it to reconfigure its 176,846 BVAS for the March 11 governorship and state houses of assembly elections.

Meanwhile, the PDP has said the ruling of the Court of Appeal granting its presidential candidate permission to inspect election materials had yet to be obeyed by the electoral commission.

A member of the National Working Committee of the party who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that part of the reason for the protest by the party chieftains on Monday was the refusal of the commission to comply with the order of the appellate court.

“The legal team of the PDP has not commenced the process of inspecting the documents used for the election, not because it is not ready but because INEC has not granted the team access to the materials.

“It is too early to say that they have an ulterior motive but they can’t deny us of our right. They can only delay the process but they cannot stop the PDP.

“If in the next few days, they don’t grant us access to the documents, there is a provision of the law that will compel them to obey the pronouncement of the court,” he said.

When contacted, the Director of Strategic Communications, National Election Management Committee of the PDP Campaign Council, Dele Momodu, stated, ‘’Don’t you think INEC has abused that ruling? They may also have appealed the ruling and if that is the case, there is nothing we can do in the interim.’’

But the All Progressives Congress on Monday night asked INEC to educate Nigerians on why it needed to reconfigure the BVAS ahead of Saturday’s election.

Speaking in an interview, the Chief Spokesman for the APC presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo, said that though INEC had been vested with the power to hold elections in the country, it still owed Nigerians an explanation on why the technological device should be reconfigured.

He said, “INEC has the statutory powers to do whatever it is they are doing. And if they have to work within those powers to ensure that the elections are free and fair, then there is no problem so long as they explain to the parties what they are doing to avoid giving room for suspicion.

‘’The need to reconfigure those systems is also not clear enough to me. I think INEC needs to explain to the public very well why it needs to do that in a psychological sense because this is about technology.

“The commission has to explain to the members of the public. For us, we are not here to defend, support or criticise INEC. No, we won’t do that. This is because we as the ruling party also look forward to a free and fair process ahead of Saturday’s election and things have to be done legitimately.”

On his part, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, said Nigerians should not always be quick to raise suspicions over any demand that the commission might make.

“So, if INEC decides there is a technical note to reconfigure all their systems in order to conduct the next elections, I am quite sure that the course of approach in making the appropriate decision at the right time to authorise INEC to do what is necessary would be approved by the court.

“I don’t see where the cause for the alarm is. But I think the media can help us by going to INEC to clarify why they need to, technically speaking, reconfigure those BVAS,” he stated.

However, the Labour Party described INEC’s move on the BVAS reconfiguration as medicine after death.

Speaking with newsmen, Akin Oshuntokun, Director General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council said the party had lost faith in the activities of the electoral commission.

He said, “Anything INEC does, it does on its own. We don’t know where this one is going to end. INEC is not a body anyone should be associated with. They are not worthy of the trust of Nigerians.”

Doubting the significance of the BVAS configuration on the elections, Oshuntokun added, “We don’t believe in this configuration thing. We are all used to the internet and computers. You can only flash your phone when it is absolutely necessary but you can’t wipe out information from the cloud.’’