The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disputed allegations that it withheld 2.5 million votes from the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi.
INEC issued the denial in its last address to the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Obi and his party’s appeal challenging the commission’s declaration of the final outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
Newsmen recalls Peter Obi of the Labour Party, who is challenging President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 polls before the election tribunal, claiming that results from certain polling units show that a total of 2,565,269 votes were not reflected in his score, in addition to his claim of non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022.
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However, in their final written address dated July 14, INEC’s lead counsel, A.B. Mahmoud (SAN), stated that Obi had failed to submit credible evidence to support his claim and hence requested that the case be dismissed.
Obi’s witness, according to Mahmoud, neglected to produce before the PEPC the polling unit results he utilized in preparing his report, resulting in claims of a deduction.
“Curiously, if the 18, 088 Polling Unit results as uploaded on iReV are blurred, what of the duplicate copies in the possession of the Petitioners’ Polling Agents?
“We submit that the totality of the testimony and evidence of the so-called experts (PWs 4, 7 and 8) called by the Petitioners are manifestly unreliable and cannot ground the incidents of non-compliance pleaded by the Petitioners.
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“We submit that there is no credible evidence to prove that votes in those 18,088 polling units were suppressed, just because blurred results were allegedly uploaded on the iReV. The petitioners have only left the same to conjecture and speculation which never form part of the determination of the Court,” Mahmoud stated.
Mahmoud argued that INEC conducted the election within the confines of the law and therefore urged the tribunal to dismiss the claim by Obi and his party.
“No attempt was in fact made by the Petitioners to present any of their Polling Agents’ copies to show any discrepancy since the blurred results were alleged to have been uploaded with a view to suppressing votes,” the lawyer submitted.
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