Tribunal admits 207 BVAS machines for inspection

The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Nasarawa State on Thursday admitted 207 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines and its certified true copies of screenshot print-outs showing accreditation of voters in the March 18, 2023 governorship election in Lafia Local Government Area of the state.

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, David Ombugadu, who is the petitioner in the case, had approached the court about some irregularities during the election which led to the declaration of the incumbent Governor Abdullahi Sule as winner of the poll.

At the continuation of hearing in Lafia, the BVAS printouts showed the accreditation process in polling units in Ashige Ward of Lafia Local Government Area where election results were allegedly cancelled by the Independent National Electoral Commission during the election.

The BVAS machines and accreditation screenshot print-outs were produced in court by a representative of INEC pursuant to the subpoena issued on the electoral umpire on 12/07/2023, by the tribunal upon the application of the petitioner. The subpoenaed witness had earlier been designated as PW7.

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Witnesses who testified at the day’s proceedings were the petitioner’s agent for Ciroma electoral ward and the petitioner’s Lafia LGA agent for the 2023 governorship election in the state.

The petitioner’s Lafia LGA agent designated as PW17 told the court that he refused to sign the LGA result summary sheet (Form EC8C) because the scores transferred from the forms EC8Bs (Ward summaries) were not a correct summation of the votes scored by the candidates at the polling unit level shown on the polling unit results (Forms EC8As) which corresponded with the I-ReV copies already admitted in evidence before the court.

The witnesses in the course of their testimonies, all identified and confirmed the electoral forms and materials already admitted as exhibits which they referred to in their evidence in support of the petition.

After listening to the testimonies of the witnesses, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ezekiel Oyeyemi Ajayi, adjourned its sitting to Friday, July 28, 2023, for the continuation of hearing.

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