Wednesday, the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in the Court of Appeal in Abuja, allowed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, permission to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, that was used in the presidential election.
In a unanimous decision by a panel of three Justices, the court determined that preventing the electoral body from reconfiguring the BVAS would have a negative impact on the upcoming Governorship and State Assembly elections.
It rejected the arguments filed by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, regarding INEC’s decision to reconfigure all BVAS.
According to the court, granting Obi and his party’s objections would bind the hands of the respondent, INEC.
In addition, it was noted that INEC had told the court in an affidavit that the accreditation data contained in the BVAS could not be altered or lost, as they would be kept and easily accessed from its accredited back-end server.
Court further noted that neither Obi nor LP contested the depositions in INEC’s affidavit, emphasizing that since such assertions were not contested, it amounted to admission on the part of the Applicants.