Presidential Tribunal: Tinubu, INEC Kick As Obi Tenders Total PVCs From 32 States

The Presidential Petition Court, sitting in Abuja on Wednesday, accepted as evidence a collection of documents detailing the total number of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) collected in 32 states before the 2023 general elections.

In addition, the court also admitted documents reflecting the total number of registered voters in those states.

These documents were presented by Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, who is alleging that the February 25 presidential election was unfairly skewed in favor of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Despite objections from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and President Tinubu and the APC, the court admitted these exhibits as evidence and labelled them PCN 1 to PCN 32.

Additional witnesses were called during the proceedings. Dr. Chibuike Ugwoke, a cybersecurity expert, presented a press release from INEC, which raised concerns about the transmission of polling unit results to the IReV portal.

Another witness, Mr. Onoja Sunday, from the Women & Child Rescue Initiative, a Non-Governmental Organization, corroborated earlier claims about the failure to upload results to the IReV portal.

On his part, Mr. Kefas Iya, a civil servant and ad-hoc staff of INEC during the election, recounted a disruption between APC and PDP agents, and confirmed the failure to transmit election results. Despite these issues, collation took place at the Ward level.

Following these testimonies and objections from all respondents, the court postponed the hearing till Thursday.

The case involving the candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was also deferred due to time constraints.

The respondents will open their defense once both Obi and Atiku conclude their cases on Friday.