Atiku vs Buhari: Trouble As EU Denies INEC Server

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) on Saturday said it was unaware of any server used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of 2019 presidential election.

Naija News reports that the stand of the EU EOM spells trouble for the election petition filed by the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.

The petition had prayed that the tribunal grants the party access to the server used by the electoral umpire for the conduct of the Presidential election that saw President Muhammadu Buhari (APC) emerge as winner to pilot the affairs of the country for his second term in office.

While briefing newsmen in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the Deputy Chief Observer for the EU, Hannah Roberts said the mission knew nothing about INEC server that was allegedly used to transmit results of the 2019 general elections, but rather the Mission relied on results that were released by INEC.

“The EU had to rely on INEC’s explanation in result transmission,” she said.

The report seems contrary to the claims by the main opposition party, PDP that an INEC server was used to transmit results of the 23 February presidential election.

However, INEC in its counter-affidavit at the tribunal had already dismissed the existence of any server, saying that results were manually collated across the country.