Mandy News has been keenly following the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) proceedings that shook Nigeria on July 4th, 2023. Key players including Obi, Tinubu, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) took the center stage, contributing to a captivating legal drama.
“The proceedings began at 9:24am with the stage set for a high-stakes showdown.”
Prominent figures in attendance were Dr. Datti Ahmed representing the Labor Party (LP) and Odunsanya Damilola George, Senior Legal Officer for All Progressives Congress (APC). INEC’s defense was led by AB Mahmood SAN. Mandy News was there to capture all the proceedings for its esteemed readers.
Tensions rise over document submission
A highlight of the day was the intense document submission process. INEC, through Mahmood, sought to tender five documents that drew objections from LP’s lead counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu SAN. Three of the five documents were contested but eventually admitted by the court, causing ripples within the LP camp.
“Dr. Livy also sought to tender some documents provided by INEC in response to a subpoena, but the request was declined as the LP’s case was already closed.”
Witness examination: Under the spotlight
INEC’s witness, Dr. Lawrence Bayode, the Deputy Director of ICT at INEC, was examined by Mahmood, leading to a series of crucial revelations. Bayode, a 24-year veteran at INEC, stated and/or accepted that blurred documents downloaded from IREV wouldn’t affect results forms EC8A and the images on form EC8As uploaded to iREV were irrelevant to result collation.
During cross-examination by Wole Olanipekun SAN (counsel for BAT/Shett), he also mentioned the e-Naira app, introduced under President Buhari in 2021. The app had been removed from Google’s Play Store for some technical adjustments, as reported on Mandy News.
Lateef Fagbemi SAN (counsel for APC) was next, highlighting that physical forms EC8As were used by INEC to collate results and while glitches were experienced, they didn’t affect result collation.
Defence and counter-defense
PIN Ikwueto SAN, representing the Labour Party, raised questions on the e-transmission app’s pre-production performance and functionality test, claiming that the app was tested before use but the results were not received by INEC. The witness remained silent on whether the server was not vulnerable, but admitted that Amazon Web Service Cloud Trail has event time, event source, event name, and AWS region where it was hosted.
INEC’s final statement was an explanation on different tests; the witness explained the meaning of functionality, vulnerability, and performance tests.
“As the court adjourned at about 11:40am, the expectation for BAT/Shett to begin their defense added an intriguing angle to the already captivating proceedings.”
With this, the next proceedings are set to commence on Wednesday, July 5th, 2023, at 9am.
Mandy News will continue to bring you detailed and incisive updates on the ongoing PEPT proceedings. Visit our website for more news and information.
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Source: MandyNews.com
