The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday, closed its defence in the petition filed by the Labour Party and its candidate in February 25 presidential election, Peter Obi before the presidential election petition tribunal.
The Informant247 gathered that at the court session, an information technology practitioner, Lawrence Bayode was led in evidence by Abubakar Mahmoud, INEC counsel.
Prior to witness’s call, INEC had tendered some documents which were admitted and marked as exhibits.
It was learned that Bayode, the INEC witness, during cross-examination, stated that the blurred documents downloaded from the result viewing portal do not affect the polling unit results recorded in forms EC8As, adding that the photographic copies of forms EC8A captured with the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) and transmitted to IReV, are not relevant for the collation of results.
The witness also said that the hitch recorded during the presidential poll did not affect the credibility of election results, saying only physical results (forms EC8As) are used for collating final election results.
Meanwhile, after the witness was discharged, the Inec chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu told the court that they had no other witness to call.
However, counsel to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, Wole Olanipekun told the court that he would open their defence on Wednesday.
The five-member panel led by Haruna Tsammani thereafter adjourned the case to Wednesday.
In the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, Obi and the LP are challenging Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.