Court Grants INEC’s Request to Tamper With BVAS

The Presidential Election Petition Court sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja has granted the request of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) it used for the presidential election.

In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, presided by Justice Joseph Ikyegh, held that preventing INEC from reconfiguring the BVAS would adversely affect the forthcoming governorship and State Assembly elections scheduled for the 11th of November, 2023.

It dismissed objections by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, against the request citing that such requests, if allowed, would amount to “tying the hands of the Respondent, INEC”.

The court, however, maintained that INEC had an affidavit that assured the backup files on the server cannot be lost and that restraining INEC will affect the forthcoming governorship elections.