EDO: INEC presents BVAS machines before election tribunal

The devices were tendered as part of the proceedings examining the conduct of the election.

A senior technical officer in INEC’s ICT department, Anthony Itodo, appeared before the tribunal following a subpoena issued on January 9.

He informed the court that he brought a total of 148 BVAS devices from 133 polling units.

This led to questions about the actual number of devices used in the election, as the figures appeared inconsistent.

The Counsel for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Robert Emukpoeruo, requested verification of the devices, noting the discrepancies in the numbers.

Itodo explained that some polling units had more than one BVAS device, which accounted for the variation.

In response, counsel representing Governor Monday Okpebolor, Onyechi Ikpeazu, and Emmanuel Ukala, who appeared for the All Progressives Congress (APC), argued that the matter should not be exaggerated, insisting that the number of BVAS devices presented was not an issue of concern.

To clarify the situation, INEC’s legal representative, Kanu Agabi, informed the tribunal that although there were 151 polling units, only 148 had requested BVAS machines, and these were the only ones related to the election.

Despite objections from the defendants, Emukpoeruo applied for the BVAS devices to be admitted as evidence.

After reviewing the submissions, the panel ruled in favor of admitting the BVAS devices as evidence in the ongoing case.