How INEC deleted presidential election results from BVAS – Expert

"How INEC deleted presidential election results from BVAS" – Expert

A witness of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has told the Presidential Election Petition Court, (PEPC) that the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, deleted Presidential Election results on all the 110 BVAS machines he inspected. Mr Hitler Nwala, a subpoenaed witness, made the assertion on Thursday in Abuja while giving evidence as an expert witness for the petitioners in their petition challenging the outcome of the Feb. 25 presidential election results.

"How INEC deleted presidential election results from BVAS" – Expert

A collage photo of the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu and an official holding BVAS The witness who was led in evidence by the petitioner’s lead counsel, Mr Chris Uche, SAN, said that the machines inspected were only those from the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT). He also told the court that he was a Digital Forensic Analyst and that he didn’t know at what point the results were deleted on machines. Under cross-examination by counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Mr Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, the witness said that he attached a standard device used for such an exercise to the machine to arrive at the conclusion. When asked if he had the authority of the commission to attach an external device to the BVAS machine, the witness answered in the affirmative. Mahmoud further asked the witness if he was aware that inspecting only 110 machines out of 3,163 that were deployed in the FCT amounted to only 3.4 per cent of the total number of BVAS deployed in the FCT and 0.06 per cent of BVAS deployed nationwide. To this, the witness told the court that he only compiled the report and didn’t take out time to calculate the percentages. The INEC counsel attempted to give a BVAS machine to the witness to check if it was deleted as he had said in his report. The witness, however, said that it would be against the ethics of his profession to collect the BVAS machine in open court to check it. “It is professionally wrong to access a device that will be used as evidence in a court of competent jurisdiction because it will temper with the evidence. “We cannot access the device directly, what we do is to extract the evidence and take it for analysis.” Moreover, the witness told the court that since all the devices had the same model and looked the same on the outside, he couldn’t tell if it was one of the ones he inspected by merely looking at it. For his part, counsel to the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN told the witness that neither he nor any of his team members signed the six-volume forensic report. The witness, however, insisted that he signed the report as well as the certificate of compliance. On his part, counsel to President Bola Tinubu, Mr Wole Olanipekun, SAN confronted the witness with a portion of his report where he said that from his inspection of the machines, “nothing was intrinsically wrong with them”. “Were you in Abuja on the day of the presidential election? “If you were not in Abuja, how then can you know that there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the machines on the day of the election?” The witness said that he was not in Abuja and so he couldn’t have known if something went wrong with the machines on the day of the election. After the witness was discharged, the petitioners went further to tender Forms EC8A series from 20 local government areas of Ogun, 17 local government areas of Ondo, 27 local government areas of Jigawa, and 20 local government areas of Rivers. The Chairman of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned the hearing of the petition until Friday. The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that going by the pre-hearing report; Atiku and the PDP are expected to close their case on Friday. NAN reports that they had asked for three weeks to present their case which elapsed on Tuesday but because they had lost three days, one being the June 12 Democracy Day Public Holiday, the court extended their time by three days.

Three thugs gunned down for snatching BVAS, ballot boxes in Benue

Three thugs gunned down for snatching BVAS, ballot boxes in Benue

Military officers have reportedly killed three individuals believed to be political thugs in the Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State.

Nigerian army

According to an eyewitness named Moses Agure-Dam, the incident occurred when the suspects stormed polling units 026 and 004 in Gboko South during an ongoing electoral process, with the intention of stealing ballot boxes and the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS. “The thugs invaded the polling units and disrupted the election. They were three in number, one snatched the BVAS while others snatched ballot boxes but they didn’t not succeed. They were all shot dead instantly by the soldiers in the area,” the eye-witness stated. Watch the video below … Nigerian Army on the beat! Looks like one popular APC thug on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/IxBzTk4cBN — Morris “Rhodes-Vivour” Monye 💙 (@Morris_Monye) March 18, 2023

INEC rejects Labour Party’s request to witness BVAS reconfiguration

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The Labour Party has dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for reconfiguring the BVAS without their witnesses.

BVAS

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rejected the request from the Independent Party to witness the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.  This action comes after the Court of Appeal in Abuja granted INEC’s request to reconfigure the BVAS that was used for the presidential election on the 25th of February, 2023. Yunusa Tanko, the spokesman for the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council said it was wrong for INEC to reconfigure the BVAS machines without any witness from Labour Party with the excuse that the data has been backup. “Are we privy or invited to see what was being backed up? If there is going to be transparency, what INEC needs to do is to invite everybody with their technical experts to see what the commission intends to back up from the original source. Was this done? “We didn’t want to use that as evidence in the court of law. INEC should not forget that we also have our own results. Anything contradictory to that particular result and what they backed up will be totally unacceptable to us. “It is clear right from the beginning that INEC deliberately went to court for reconfiguration of the BVAS machines after Obi requested to inspect election materials. Of course, nobody, not even you and I, know the commission can come up with anything like reconfiguration at this time. This was done after we demanded to inspect those machines. “When you are going into an arrangement, it is always important to tell people about the rule of engagement and ensure you don’t change it. But INEC keeps on changing the rule of engagement in order to cover their shady deals. It is unfortunate that we have to bring INEC down to this particular level.” Yunusa Tanko has however disclosed that Peter Obi and his lawyers are in talks about whether or not to appeal the court ruling on BVAS reconfiguration.

Labour Party reveals move to prove BVAS was ‘perverted’

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Labour Party’s Akin Osuntokun has claimed that the BVAS was “perverted” during the presidential and National Assembly elections.

Akin Osuntokun

While speaking during an interview on Channels Television, Akin Osuntokun said Labour Party is compiling its exercise results. He also claimed that the party won some states by wider margins. He said: “BVAS has been perverted. Something that is to serve a good course has now been perverted. Because once the BVAS does its role – takes a picture of the results – the polling agents will have it. So, the polling agents have all the results and we have our own that is presently being compiled. It has been said before – about nine opinion polls – before the election said Obi would win. INEC has another opportunity on Saturday [governorship and state house of assembly elections] to redeem itself. He wants Nigerians to remember him for the best election ever conducted. But look at the absurdity of what has happened! Is this the legacy he wants to bequeath?”

Thugs steal 8 BVAS machines in Delta, Katsina

2023 Elections: Thugs steal 8 BVAS machines in Delta, Katsina

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed that the voting exercise was disrupted in Delta and Katsina States by thugs who stole eight Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.

2023 Elections: Thugs steal 8 BVAS machines in Delta, Katsina

INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this during his first briefing on election day. He stated that thugs attacked a polling location in Oshimili, Delta State, resulting in the loss of two BVAS machines. Similarly, thugs attacked a voting location in Safana LGA of Katsina State and stole six BVAS machines, but security personnel were able to recover three of them. Mahmood expressed his disappointment at the fact that BVAS machines have become the target of political thugs. He emphasized that the commission’s responsibility is to ensure that the elections are conducted in a free, fair, and transparent manner. Mahmood’s Statement “In Oshimili LGA of Delta State, thugs attacked a polling unit and two BVAS machines were lost in the process. But again, determined that the election must continue, we were able to replace the stolen BVAS machines, and reinforced security agencies and voting continue in that polling unit. “Similarly, in Safana LGA of Katsina State, thugs attacked one of our voting locations and snatched 6 BVAS machines. But again, we were able to recover and use the spare BVAS machines and reinforced security for voting to continue in that location. “Happily, security agencies have recovered the BVAS machines but three are still held by the thugs. So in these locations, the target of attacks was the BVAS machines, no longer our ballot papers or the ballot box.”

2023 Elections: Thugs steal 8 BVAS machines in Delta, Katsina

”We will ensure that we continue to do what is right. So, we consider it auspicious to address the nation at this point and we’re going to continue to do so during the day intermittently. “Until we formally commence the coalition. So far, so good, generally speaking, what is going on nationwide, the BVAS deployed nationwide is working optimally,” he added. Mahmood Addressed Lateness at Polling Units According to him, reports from various states in the federation raised concerns about the inability to commence voting at exactly 8:30 am. However, he assured that voters who were in line at polling units by 2:30 pm would be allowed to vote in line with the commission’s regulations. He attributed the challenge to the logistical constraints currently faced by INEC. “Some of the polling units opened late. But in line with our policy, any Nigerian who is on the queue will have the opportunity to vote no matter how long it takes until the last person in the queue before 2:30pm votes. “Some of the reasons why we could not open some of the polling units on time include perennial problems of logistics in spite of our best efforts. I think we have conquered the challenge of getting election materials to various locations. “Though there may be complaints here and there, but generally speaking, we have delivered millions of ballot papers and result sheets that we are supposed to deliver for the elections,” he added. He attributed the delay in opening polling stations to the ongoing insecurity in the country. He cited an instance in Alawa, Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, where the Commission was unable to promptly deploy due to security challenges caused by bandit attacks. He clarified that the attacks were not on INEC offices or facilities. “With the advice of the security agencies, we tarried a while but I am happy to say that we are able to deploy to Alawa, and voting in that location is ongoing as we speak,” Mahmood stated.