INEC Ad-hoc Staff Admit Failure of BVAS in Transmitting Election Results

Two ad-hoc staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who were subpoenaed as witnesses for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have acknowledged that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) failed to transmit the results of the election after the collation process.

The witnesses, Friday Egwuma and Grace Timothy, testified before the Presidential Election Petition Court on Thursday, revealing that the BVAS machine assigned to them encountered a system error immediately after the results for the Senate and House of Representatives were transmitted successfully.

During their subpoenaed evidence, the two INEC workers explained that they had to resort to alternative methods to obtain the election results when it became evident that the BVAS machines would not assist them.

Egwuma, who served as a Presiding Officer in a polling unit in Abia State, and Timothy, who worked for INEC in Plateau State, both admitted that apart from the failure of the BVAS machines to transmit the presidential election results, the voting process went smoothly in their respective areas of assignment.

Atiku’s lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche SAN, led the witnesses in providing their testimonies. They were later cross-examined by Abubakar Mahmud SAN, who represented the electoral body. Egwuma explained that he resorted to an offline system as an alternative to the BVAS machines.

Grace Timothy also testified, mentioning that the greatest challenge she encountered during the election was uploading the presidential election results into the I-rev portal.

The witnesses faced further cross-examination by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, who represented the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, adjourned further hearing in the petition to June 9. The court proceedings continue as the parties involved present their arguments and evidence in the ongoing election petition case.