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Tag: Election Materials

  • INEC denies obstructing inspection of BVAS, election materials in Edo

    INEC denies obstructing inspection of BVAS, election materials in Edo

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Edo, has denied obstructing any political party from inspecting election materials and BVAS machines used for the just concluded governorship election.

    In a statement in Benin on Wednesday, Dr Anugbum Onuoha, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, said that the allegations of obstructing the inspection of materials were baseless, misleading, and devoid of truth.

    NAN reports that the PDP and its candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo had accused INEC of not obeying a court order granting the inspection of the election materials.

    Onuoha explained that the commission in furtherance to its commitment had fixed Wednesday for the inspection of the materials at its headquarters in Benin.

    “The attention of INEC and my office has been drawn to certain unfounded allegations suggesting that I have refused political parties and their representatives’ access to inspect the BVAS devices and other election materials used during the recent elections.

    “We wish to categorically state that these allegations are baseless, misleading, and completely devoid of truth.

    “INEC under my leadership in Edo, remains committed to upholding the highest standards of transparency, fairness, and integrity of all electoral processes,” he said .

    Onuoha noted that the inspection of election materials was the fundamental right of all political parties involved in election petitions, adding that it was a process that INEC was mandated by law to facilitate.

    He explained that at no time did he or any official in his office obstructed or denied any political party or their representatives’ access to inspect the materials used in the last election.

    “INEC is fully aware of the legal implications of such actions, and we are dedicated to supporting the lawful processes that enable parties to seek redress in the courts.

    “In furtherance of this commitment, I wish to inform the public that the inspection of the election materials, including the BVAS devices, has been formally scheduled for Wednesday (Today), at of the INEC Headquarters in Benin.

    “All political parties and their representatives are invited to participate in this exercise, as per the legal procedures, to ensure transparency and adherence to the rule of law, ” he added.

    He assured political parties and their candidates seeking to inspect the materials of unhindered access provided they follow the proper procedures as outlined by the election petition tribunal and relevant legal frameworks.

    According to him, it is therefore, unfortunate that these baseless accusations have been circulated without any evidence or proper engagement with my office.

    “I urge all stakeholders and the general public to disregard such misinformation. As a Commission, our loyalty remains to the Nigerian people, the Constitution, and the rule of law.

    “INEC as an institution, stands for transparency, and we are fully committed to ensuring that the electoral process is free, fair, and accountable.”

    The REC also encouraged parties wishing to engage with his office regarding the inspection of materials to do so through the appropriate legal channels.

    He assured them of his full cooperation.

  • BREAKING: Boat carrying election personnel capsises, SPO abducted in Bayelsa

    BREAKING: Boat carrying election personnel capsises, SPO abducted in Bayelsa

    Few hours to Bayelsa governorship election, the boat carrying election personnel capsises in southern Ijaw.

    According to reports, the Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO), of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) assigned to registration Area-06 Ossioma in Sagbama LGA was also abducted.

    Details to follow…

  • Labour Party storms INEC office with 60 lawyers to inspect election materials

    Labour Party storms INEC office with 60 lawyers to inspect election materials

    The legal team of the Labour Party consisting of about 60 legal practitioners  have arrived at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abuja to inspect election materials used during the 2023 presidential election in the country.

    According to a reports on Channels TV reports on Monday,  the team are currently meeting with officials of the commission.

    The meeting with INEC officials, which is being held at the Commission’s national headquarters, is aimed at commencing the process of inspection of electoral materials used for the February 25 presidential election.

    The team, with about 60 lawyers, was led by Dr Livy Uzoukwu. They are expected to brief journalists after the meeting

  • Court refuses Obi’s request to scan election materials

    Court refuses Obi’s request to scan election materials

    The Appeal court on Wednesday refused to grant Mr. Peter Obi’s application scan and make copies of the election materials from INEC ‘s database.

    The three-member panel held that granting the order sought by obi will hamper the elections slated for Saturday.

    The Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led panel faulted Obi and the Labour Party (LP) for repeating their request to be allowed to scan and make copies of the electoral materials in INEC’s possession.

    The court held that granting the order will amount to tying down the hands of the electoral body and preventing it from carrying out the functions assigned to it by the 1999 constitution

    The court ordered INEC on March 3 to allow the applicants to inspect and carry out digital forensic examination of all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the elections.

    Also  to avail them the Certified True Copy, CTC, of result of the physical inspection of the BVAS.

    The panel held that the request was earlier granted, adding that repeating the prayer amounted to an abuse of court process.

    INEC had insisted that the reconfiguration of the BVAS was necessary since they would be deployed for the next round of elections on Saturday.

    The commission added that without a prompt variation of the order the court earlier granted to Obi and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, especially the aspect restraining it from tampering with information contained in the BVAS.

    It would be difficult for it to proceed with the scheduled elections INEC added.

    Obi and his party had in their application marked: CA/PEC/09m/23, sought permission to be allowed to conduct physical inspection of all the BVAS that were used for the presidential poll.

    The applicants, through their team of lawyers led by Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, said the essence of the application was to enable them to extract data embedded in the BVAS, “which represent the actual results from Polling Units.”

    They specifically applied for; “leave to carryout digital forensic and physical inspection of BVAS, among others ”, as well as to obtain the Certified True Copy, CTC, of all the data in the BVAS.”

    While opposing the application, INEC through its lawyer,  Tanimu Inuwa, SAN told the court that there were a total of 176,000 BVAS that were deployed to polling units during the presidential election.

    “Each polling unit has its own particular BVAS machine which will need to be reconfigured for the forthcoming elections.

    “It will be very difficult for us, within the period, to reconfigure the 176, 000 BVAS.

    “We have already stated in our affidavit that no information in the BVAS will be lost.

    “We need the BVAS reconfigured.

    ” So, granting this application will be a cog in the process and may delay the conduct of the elections” Inuwa pleaded.

  • Appeal court grants Obi, Atiku permission to inspect election materials

    Appeal court grants Obi, Atiku permission to inspect election materials

    The request by the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his peoples Democratic Party counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to inspect the election materials used during last Saturday’s presidential poll has been granted by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja granted the request of both presidential candidates on Friday, March 3rd.

    Recall that Atiku and Obi approached  Court  of Appeal to seek permission for the inspection of election materials used during last Saturday’s poll.

    Also,  Atiku and Obi refused to concede defeat in the February 25 presidential election, vowing to recover their mandate in court.

    The two candidates rebuffed the gesture of conciliation made by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, who in his acceptance speech after he was declared the winner of the poll on Wednesday, asked them to support him in the task of building the nation.

    Atiku and Obi spoke at separate news conferences in Abuja on Thursday.

    But the court on Friday granted both candidates’ request to have access to all the sensitive materials INEC deployed for the presidential election won by All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

    The Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led panel of the appellate court, which will also sit as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, granted the request after it heard two separate ex-parte applications brought by Atiku, Obi and their political parties.

    The electoral umpire, Tinubu and APC were cited as Respondents in the matter.

    Both applications were predicated on Section146 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022, Paragraph 47 (1, 2 &3) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act of 2022, as well as under the inherent jurisdiction of the Court as referenced by Section 6 (6) A & B of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

    Obi, in his application that was moved by his team of lawyers led by Mr Alex Ejesieme, SAN, sought six principal reliefs.

    Atiku’s lawyer, Adedamola Faloku, sought seven prayers from the tribunal.

    Specifically, the applicants urged the court to compel INEC to allow them to obtain documents in its custody that were used for the presidential election.

    They maintained that the requested documents would aid their petition against the outcome of the presidential contest that was declared in favour of Tinubu.

  • Persons caught with BVAS, other election materials are INEC staff – Police

    Persons caught with BVAS, other election materials are INEC staff – Police

    The police have cleared the air on some persons arrested with election materials including the  Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines few days after the presidential election was conducted in the country.

    The police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, a Chief Superintendent of Police has issued a statement on the trending news on Wednesday, March 1st.

    Recall that there was a report flying around and obtained by TheNewsGuru claiming how police stormed a residential building” at No. 15, Ganges Street, Maitama in Abuja.

    According to the report,  the operation followed a tip-off “from unidentified sources” that the location was being used as a base to manipulate election results.

    “Police recovered numerous BVAS machines and several laptops and desktop computers, as well as other technology materials.

    “Also, several suspects were arrested. Police have launched a manhhunt for several other suspects involved in the matter,” it reads.

    A circulating video shows the hands of two men opening packages containing the machines.

    Nigerians are reacting angrily, wondering why their faces were not shown. Some dismissed the video as a plot to shift attention from the controversial presidential results.

    However, In the clarification, Adejobi said operatives of the Force Investigation Bureau (FIB), acting on a tip-off from residents, visited the location, interviewed the occupants, and conducted a search.

    While searching the residence, some electoral materials and BVAS machines were discovered in their possession, the spokesperson noted.

    The Force PRO said the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, confirmed the persons “are staff of Emperor Technology, outsourcing engineering services to the INEC”.

    The police announced they have been released, urging the public to discountenance “the false and misconstrued narrative” about their arrest and link with BVAS manipulation.

    The statement further cautioned against the creation and spread of misinformation and disinformation that are capable of causing disaffection among Nigerians.

  • #OndoDecides2020: Use riverine people to transport electoral materials, Ajayi tells INEC

    #OndoDecides2020: Use riverine people to transport electoral materials, Ajayi tells INEC

    By Emman Ovuakporie

    Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) governorship candidate, Agboola Ajayi has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to use riverine people to transport electoral materials in future elections because they understand the riverine area better.
    Agboola revealed this in a chat with journalists after casting his vote at his unit 009 in his local government area.
    Agboola said” you will always hear about boats capsizing during elections why not use stakeholders in the riverine areas to carry the materials because they understand the river and they are good swimmers.
    ” Thank God nobody died this time around”, the ZLP candidate added.
  • Rerun: Police arrest suspected hijackers of election materials in A-Ibom

    Rerun: Police arrest suspected hijackers of election materials in A-Ibom

    The police in Akwa Ibom State on Saturday said they had arrested some persons who allegedly hijacked election materials during the rerun election in Essien Udim Local Government area.

    A chieftain of People Democratic Party and Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Prince Ukpong Akpabio, had alleged that election materials were recovered from the residence of an APC chieftain.

    The materials, according to Akpabio, were meant for six units in Akpautong in the Appeal Court ordered re- run election in Essien Udim council area.

    He said all the hoodlums who carted the election materials were arrested and were being detained at the state Police Headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia, Uyo. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), CSP Nnudam Fredrick, told correspondents at the collation centre in Essien Udim local government area (LGA) that some arrests had indeed been made in connection with electoral malpractices in the area.

    He, however, did not state if they were recovered from the residence of any politician. The police spokesperson said the suspects were being detained at the state Police headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia, Uyo

    Akpabio also alleged that INEC ad-hoc staff, including an electoral officer, were caught thumb-printing in the home of the APC chieftain, whose name he declined to mention. His words: “It took the strength of the Nigeria Police to recover the stolen materials in the politician’s house. The ad-hoc staff, including one of the electoral officers assigned to the area, who were abducted with the materials were forced to thumb-print the ballot papers instead of the voters. Those arrested were too many. The police had to call for prison van to ferry them to the state police headquarters.”

  • Ogun gov’rshp poll: Tribunal directs INEC to grant Akinlade, APM access to election materials

    Ogun gov’rshp poll: Tribunal directs INEC to grant Akinlade, APM access to election materials

    The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, on Monday directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to grant the candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Adekunle Akinlade and the party, access to the documents used for conduct of March 9 gubernatorial election in the state.

    Justice Chinwe Onyeabor-led three man panel gave the directive at its inaugural sitting, following a motion ex parte brought before it by Akinlade and APM.

    The governorship candidate and APM are challenging the victory of Prince Dapo Abiodun and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), designated as second and third respondents in the Petition marked EPT/OG/GOV/ 01/2019.

    In arguing the application, Counsel for the Petitioners, Mamman Osuman, SAN, who appeared with Ahmed Raji, SAN, told the tribunal that the order being sought was necessary to allow the applicants access to the electoral documents used during the election “with a view to maintaining the petition already filed before the tribunal.”

    Osuman argued further that the application was filed pursuant to section 151, sub-section 1 and 2 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

    Among other prayers sought were, “An order directing the 1st Respondent to forthwith grant access to the Petitioners/Applicants and their Solicitors, agents, experts and other staff to inspect, photocopy, scan, pay for and obtain certified copies of all documents used by the 1st Respondent for the conduct of the Ogun State Governorship Election held on 9th of March, 2019, for the purpose of instituting and maintaining Election Petition; the said documents being the ones contained in the schedule attached to the Supporting Affidavit to this application;

    “An order allowing/permitting the Petitioners/Applicants (for the purpose of instituting and maintaining an Election Petition) to inspect, scan, photocopy, pay for and obtain certified copies of the electoral documents contained in the schedule attached to the Application, same being the documents that are in the custody of and were used by the 1st Respondent in the conduct of the Governorship Election that took place in Ogun State on 9th March, 2019.

    “An order directing the 1st Respondent to promptly abide by the orders of this court, made in the terms of the Ex parte application.”

    Justice Onyeabor held that the prayers were granted “strictly in compliance to section 151 sub-section 1 and 2 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and adjourned the case till April 9 for confirmation of service

  • 2019 election materials safe, open for inspection – INEC

    2019 election materials safe, open for inspection – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom State Thursday said all materials used for the general elections were safe and ready for inspection by any party who followed laid down procedure for inspection.

    The state INEC gave the assurance while refuting allegations by some persons who claimed the commission colluded with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Essien Udium Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State to rig election by destroying ballot papers thumb printed in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Reacting to an advertorial titled “Political Jobbers on the prowl,” published in this newspaper on March 16, spokesman for INEC in Akwa Ibom Don Etukudo described the allegation as deliberate falsehood, misinformation and the attempt to malign the commission and the person of the Resident Electoral Commissioner.

    Etukudo said INEC’s bus was involved in an accident in which the driver and three others became unconscious while on reverse logistics duty, adding that it was a directive from the commission’s headquarters in order to safeguard electoral materials.

    He said: “While the commission does not intend to join issues with anyone or group of persons on the conduct of the just concluded elections as it believes that the nation’s electoral laws have adequately provided due process for complaints, it is however pertinent to address the deliberate falsehood, misinformation and the attempt to malign the commission and the person of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), as contained in the said advertorial.

    “The commission refers here to the claim in paragraph 6 of the advert to the effect that its truck which was involved in an accident at Abak on March 12, 2019, was conveying “ballot papers earlier voted in favour of the APC and that they “were being transported to a location near INEC office in Uyo for destruction and subsequent replacement with ballot papers fraudulently thumb printed…”

    “This is not true. It is a clear mischief and a lame attempt to hoodwink the reading public and blackmail the commission for insisting on upholding the integrity of the electoral process in Akwa Ibom State.

    “On March 12, at about 4pm, the commission’s vehicle which was undertaking reverse logistics from INEC office Eastern Obolo, to the state office got involved in an accident at Oku Abak, a few meters away from the Abak Police Station.

    The accident was duly incidented in the Abak Police Station.

    “The driver of the vehicle and the other three occupants became unconscious owing to the accident and could not have responded to questions as alleged by the advertorial. The claim that “the driver of the truck on interrogation confessed that was the sixth trip that day shuttling to different PDP stalwart houses…” is therefore unfounded, spurious and mischievous.

    “Reverse logistics from LGA offices to state offices was a national directive from the commission’s headquarters to all RECs. It was not peculiar to Akwa lbom State. The exercise is ongoing nationwide. This fact is verifiable.

    “In the light of the failed attempts in some LGAs to disrupt elections in Akwa Ibom State by bombing and setting INEC offices and vehicles ablaze (as in Ibesikpo, Obot Akara and Mkpat Enin LGAs, for instance) before, during and after the elections, the directive of the National Headquarters is amply justified.

    “In implementing this directive, the commission in Akwa lbom State was careful to rigorously follow the laid down procedure. It duly informed the Commissioner of Police in the state who is also the Chairman of the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), a body made up of all security agencies in the state. It was therefore no secret that the commission was retrieving materials used for the elections from the field for safe custody in the state headquarters.

    “The commission hereby assures the public that materials used for the 2019 General Elections are safe and open for inspection by any party on application or as may be directed by an appropriate authority,” he said.