Edo PDP chair questions INEC’s objection to BVAS tendering

The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State, Anthony Aziegbemin, has described the objection by the Independent National Electoral Commission to the tendering of its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines at the Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal as strange.

Recall that a Senior Technical Officer in INEC’s ICT Department, Mr. Anthony Itodo, had on Thursday, January 30, tendered 148 BVAS machines. On Monday, an additional five machines were tendered.

On both occasions, INEC, the All Progressives Congress, and Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo, who are respondents in the petition, through their counsel, objected to the tendering of the machines.

Speaking to journalists on Monday in Abuja, Aziegbemin questioned INEC’s actions, describing their objection to the tendering of their own certified documents as “an objection that doesn’t add up.”

He said, “Is it not strange? You conducted an election, you certified documents for the petitioners, and now, when the petitioners want to tender these documents, you object to them and say you will give reasons later.

“I can understand Okpebholo and the APC objecting, but for INEC to object to its own documents being tendered in court, I think it is strange.

“This gives us and Nigerians something to think about: why would INEC oppose the documents it certified to the petitioners being tendered in open court? I believe the tribunal will look into this and see why they are objecting. Though they said they would give reasons at the address stage, it is strange. It doesn’t add up.”

Aziegbemin expressed confidence in the judiciary, stating that he believes the testimonies and evidence presented by the petitioners—PDP and Asuerime Ighodalo—will be given due consideration by the tribunal.

He further explained that most of their witnesses were collation agents and ward agents because their complaints and dissatisfaction with the election largely arose at those levels.

“We are confident. We think we have presented our witnesses to substantiate our case, which is principally about the elections held at the 4,519 polling units in Edo State.

“At the polling unit level, we do not have major issues, except for a few places. The issues began manifesting with the connivance of INEC at the ward and local government collation levels.

“That is why most of our witnesses were collation agents and ward collation agents, who corroborated the evidence and documents we tendered.

“We believe this case is straightforward, documentary-based, and specific. We expect the judiciary to give due cognisance to what we have presented before them,” he stated.

Aziegbemin added that the petition was not like the ones previously seen in Nigeria, where numerous witnesses were called unnecessarily.

“We didn’t need to call a lot of witnesses. We called those we needed to make our case solid and straightforward.”

He noted that the judiciary now has all the evidence and documentation required, and they expect them to review it thoroughly and make a just decision.