From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday opened and closed its defence in the joint petition filed by the Labour Party (LP) and Peter Obi before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).
A deputy director in the Information and Communication Technology department (ICT), of the commission, Dr. Lawrence Bayode testified as a sole witness in the petition.
After his testimony, the lead counsel to INEC legal team, Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, announced the closure of his client’s case.
Before the testimony of the witness, Mahmoud tendered some documents that were admitted in evidence.
Under cross-examination, Bayode said that even if blurred documents were downloaded from IREV, it will not affect the physical results as recorded in Forms EC8As which are not blurred.
He equally told the court that the images of Forms EC8A captured with BVAS and transmitted to IREv are not relevant for the collation of results.
Bayode added that the glitch recorded during the last presidential election did not affect the collation of the results of the election.
Meanwhile, counsel to President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettma, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) said his clients will open their defence in the petition on Wednesday.