ABUJA, Nigeria – A major controversy has struck the Nigerian political landscape as a digital forensic expert, Hitler Nwuala, revealed to the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in Abuja, that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) allegedly deleted all the presidential election results from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Nwuala insisted this action was unnecessary as the FCT did not hold governorship elections, therefore raising critical questions about INEC’s operations.
“We don’t access the source of evidence directly. We extract the evidence and access it from another source,” Nwuala declared during his cross-examination by INEC’s lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud.
A Heated Exchange in Court
The forensic expert, serving as the 26th witness for Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 poll, alleged that this deletion was strategically done under the guise of preparing for the March 18 governorship election. He further claimed to have inspected 110 BVAS devices used during the presidential polls in the FCT, revealing that all the machines he inspected had their data purposely erased.
“All the machines I inspected had their data deliberately deleted,” Nwuala testified.
The report of Nwuala’s investigation carried out on the BVAS machines was submitted to the court, admitted as evidence, and marked as exhibits, despite objections by the respondents in the matter.
Implications of Nwuala’s Claims
Nwuala emphasized that his findings indicate that the election results of the Federal Capital Territory during the presidential elections were intentionally deleted from the BVAS machine.
“My findings show that the election results of the Federal Capital Territory during the presidential elections were deliberately deleted from the BVAS machine,” he reported to the court.
During the cross-examination by Abubakar Mahmoud, counsel to INEC, Nwuala stated that he attached a standard device to the BVAS machine to carry out his investigation. He also insisted it was professionally wrong for him to access the machine directly, as this could tamper with the evidence.
“If we access it now, the content will change and will tamper with the evidence. It is professionally wrong to tamper with evidence that will be relied upon in a court of law,” Nwuala affirmed.
Despite INEC’s insistence that the BVAS must be inspected in court, the chairman of the five-man panel, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, informed the counsel that the allotted time for conducting his cross-examination had elapsed.
Further Controversies
Despite the intense controversy surrounding the alleged deletion, the court hearings continue. The certified exhibits in four more states of the federation were tendered by Atiku and his party. These exhibits, certified true copies of INEC’s Form EC8A used during the presidential election, have been vehemently opposed by INEC, Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), who are the three respondents in the petition.
Further hearings on the petition have been adjourned until Friday, June 23. This case continues to cast a long shadow over the political landscape, with significant implications for Nigeria’s democracy. As more developments arise, they will be reported here at MandyNews.com, your trusted source for Nigerian news.
Written by MandyNews Team
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