Deborah Onyofufeke, Abuja

The Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) in Abuja has fixed today to consider the merit of the application by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be allowed to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the February 25 presidential election.

The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal adjourned to rule on the application on a day the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Mr Peter Obi, filed a fresh application to be allowed to conduct a physical inspection of all the BVAS that was used for the presidential poll.

The appellate court had listed INEC, which is seeking to vary the orders granted to the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi to inspect materials used for the last presidential election, as one of the motions up for hearing today.

Also, the motion filed on March 6 by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) for an order to inspect materials used for the last presidential election, was listed.

Obi and LP, through their team of lawyers, led by Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) had explained their purpose for the application was to enable them to extract the data inside the BVAS which represents the actual results from Polling Units.

They also applied to obtain the Certified True Copy (CTC) of all the data in the BVAS.

 “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”, Ikpeazu stated.

INEC, through its team of lawyers comprising four Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, led by Mr. Tanimu Inuwa, asked the court to refuse the application.

INEC held that granting Obi and LP’s request would affect its preparations for the impending Governorship and National Assembly elections.

It told the court that there are about 176, 000 BVAS that were deployed to polling units during the presidential election and they need the BVAS configured.

It added that granting Obi and LP’s application will be a clog in the process and may delay the conduct of the elections.

“Each polling unit has its own particular BVAS machine which we need to configure for the forthcoming elections. It will be very difficult for us, within the period, to reconfigure the 176, 000 BVAS.

“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 back-end server,” Inuwa explained.

 The Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led panel subsequently adjourned ruling on the matter till Wednesday (today) after listening to all arguments.

*APC appoints 13 SANs to defend Tinubu’s victory

Meanwhile, the APC has assembled a team of highly qualified and experienced lawyers to represent it at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

According to a statement by Ahmad El-Marzuq, APC National Legal Adviser, the team comprised legal luminaries with vast experience in election petition matters, constitutional law, and litigation.

He said the legal team, consisting of 13 Senior Advocates of Nigeria, was led by Prince Lateef Fagbemi, a renowned lawyer.

El-Marzuq said Fagbemi had successfully handled various high-profile election matters and other landmark cases.

He expressed confidence that the legal team possesses the requisite expertise and experience to ensure a successful outcome for the APC in the Presidential Election Petition matters.

The APC National Legal Adviser urged the party’s members to support the team in its effort to defend the will and mandate of the people at the February 25 presidential election.

He also called on all parties involved to conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism and respect for the rule of law throughout the legal process.

The legal team includes Lateef Fagbemi (Lead Counsel); Ahmad El-Marzuq (Life Bencher); Sam Ologunorisa; Rotimi Oguneso; Olabisi Syebo; Gbotega Oyewole; Muritala Abdulrasheed; Aliyu Saiki; Tajudeen Oladoja; Pius Akubo; Oluseye Opasanya; Suraju Saida and Kazeem Adeniyi.

The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Mr Peter Obi, who were defeated at the polls have currently challenged the outcome of the election in court, alleging electoral fraud.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate, as the winner of the election with 8, 794,726 votes.

PDP’s Atiku got 6, 984, 520 votes, while Obi polled 6,101, 533 at the election, according to INEC.