By Dele Omoyeni
Two officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Thursday, told the Presidential Election Petitions Court that they could not upload the February 25 presidential election results on the Result Viewing Portal (IReV) even though they were able to upload the Senatorial and House of Representatives results on the portal.
They disclosed this as the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called more witnesses to testify before the Tribunal in the case against the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
While the PDP summoned two witnesses, the LP summoned one witness.
The PDP’s witnesses were presiding officers during the presidential election in Abia and Bauchi States while the LP’s witness was a software engineer.
The proceedings began with the PDP calling two witnesses who were presiding officers. Both witnesses told the court that they could not upload the results of the presidential election on IReV unlike the Senatorial and House of Representatives results which were easily uploaded on the portal during the February 25 poll.
However, counsels for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Tinubu and the APC pleaded with the Tribunal not to adopt the submissions of the two witnesses, which caused the judges to take a recces for one hour.
Upon resumption, the Tribunal adjourned the case of the PDP till Friday.
After another hour of recess, the Tribunal resumed, and this time it was the turn of the LP who called just one witness, a software engineer, who said he carried out an investigation into the causes of INEC’s failure to upload results of the presidential election and established that there was a sabotage.
However, this didn’t go down well with the INEC’s counsel who objected to the submissions.
The LP was also allowed to tender more evidence from Bayelsa State before the Tribunal. The court also adjourned the LP’s case till Friday, June 9, 2023.
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