Just In: Appeal Court approves reconfiguration of BVAs for guber poll

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has approved INEC's request to reconfigure the BVAS used for the presidential election held on February 25, in order to conduct the March 11 governorship and state assembly elections. The court ruling came after a Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, sought access to inspect and certify sensitive materials used for the conduct of the election. The court, however, refused to grant Obi's application to stop INEC from reconfiguring the BVAS.

Justice Joseph Ikyegh led a three-member panel of justices in ruling on the matter on Wednesday. The panel stated that INEC’s submission that the accreditation data from the 176,000 BVAS used for the election would be uploaded and stored in the backend of the server was not challenged or controverted by Obi and the LP, and thus, they were deemed admitted.

The panel also granted an application by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President-elect, Bola Tinubu, access to inspect sensitive materials used for the presidential election. This access would enable him and the party to defend petitions filed against them.

The reconfiguration of the BVAS is expected to help resolve the issues that led to the cancellation of some votes in the presidential election. During the presidential election, there were reports of malfunctioning BVAS devices, which affected the accreditation of voters in some polling units.

The court’s decision has been welcomed by INEC, which expressed its readiness to conduct a free, fair, and credible election in line with its constitutional mandate.

The commission also urged political parties and their candidates to abide by the rules and regulations guiding the electoral process and to avoid acts capable of disrupting the conduct of the elections.