INEC rejects Labour Party’s request to witness BVAS reconfiguration

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

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.