The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) handed over 21 Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to the Kano State Governorship Election Tribunal on Tuesday.
The machines were used in 21 polling stations across 10 Local Government Areas (LGAs), including Tudun-Wada, Gaya, Gezawa, Bunkure, Bebeji, Ungogo, Ajingi, Warawa, Karaye, and Garko.
Remember that on April 9, the All Progressives Congress (APC) filed a petition challenging INEC’s decision to declare Abba Kabir-Yusuf of the NNPP the winner of the March 18, 2023, gubernatorial election.
INEC, Abba Kabir-Yusuf, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) are the respondents.
According to reports, the tribunal granted the petitioner permission to access and inspect the BVAS machines used by INEC in the governorship election on June 6.
At the resumption of the hearing, INEC Counsel E.A. Oshayomi led Mr. Ocheka, an INEC employee, to present the machines to the court.
Ocheka told the court that the BVAS machines needed to be protected because when their batteries died, codes from China had to be sent before they could be reactivated.
“Owing to safety reasons, let me go back with the BVAS to the INEC office, and whenever the court needs them, I will bring them back,” Ocheka said.
Nureini Jimoh (SAN), counsel for the petitioner, presented the 21 BVAS to the tribunal to support their petition and objected to the machines being returned to INEC.
R. A. Lawal, counsel for Kabir-Yusuf, and John Baylesha, counsel for the NNPP, did not object to the BVAS machines being admitted as evidence.
“Once the petitioner has tendered the machines, it is now left for the tribunal to decide where to keep them for safety reasons,” he said.
So far, the petitioner has presented 18 witnesses to testify before the court in order to prove its case.
The three-member panel, led by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, adjourned the case until July 12 for further proceedings.