Nasarawa Guber Poll: Tribunal Admits 207 BVAS Machines For Inspection

With the continuation of legal fireworks over the March 18, 2023 governorship election outcome in Nasarawa State, the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal (GEPT) on Thursday admitted for inspection 207 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and its Certified True Copies (CTCs) of screenshot print-outs showing accreditation of voters during the poll in Lafia Local Government Area of the state.

The petitioner, who is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s governorship flag bearer, David Ombugadu, had approached the Tribunal alleging obvious irregularities during the election that saw the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaring incumbent Governor Abdullahi Sule as the winner.

In continuance of the Tribunal sitting at Lafia, the State capital, the BVAS printouts showed the accreditation process in polling units in Ashige Ward of Lafia Local Government Area where results were allegedly cancelled by the INEC during the election. Pursuant to the subpoena issued on INEC on 12th July 2023 (12/07/2023), by the Tribunal upon the application of the petitioner, a representative of the Electoral umpire was on hand to produce the BVAS machines and accreditation screenshot print-outs in court.

The subpoenaed witness had earlier been designated as PW7. Other witnesses who testified during the day’s proceedings were the PDP’s agent for Ciroma electoral ward and the Lafia Local Government Area (LGA) agent for the 2023 gubernatorial poll in the state.

Designated as PW17, the petitioner’s Lafia LGA agent told the Tribunal that he refused to sign the LGA result summary sheet (Form EC8C) because the scores transferred from the forms EC8Bs (Ward summaries) were not a correct summation of the votes scored by the candidates at the polling unit level shown on the polling unit results (Forms EC8As) which corresponded with the I-ReV copies already admitted in evidence before the court.

In the course of their testimonies, the witnesses identified and confirmed the electoral forms and materials already admitted as exhibits which they referred to in their evidence in support of the petition.

The Tribunal Chairman, Justice Ezekiel Oyeyemi Ajayi, had adjourned its sitting to Friday, July 28, 2023, for the hearing to continue after listening to the testimonies and submissions by the various witnesses