The Abuja Federal High Court on Friday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to electronically transmit the results of Saturday’s Governor and House of Representatives elections in accordance with its regulations and guidelines.
Judge Obiora Egwuatu delivered his judgment in his ruling on the proceeding marked FHC/ABJ/CS/334/2023, dated March 15, against International Electrotechnical Commission Consists of the Labor Party (LP) and its gubernatorial candidates in Akwa Ibom, Uduakobong Udoh, including House of Representatives candidates from 13 states for the March 18 election.
Petitioner seeks seven reliefs in the lawsuit, asking the court for an executory order to compel INEC and all its agents to comply with and enforce the provisions of Section 37 of the Regulations and Guidelines of Conduct for the Governor and House of Representatives on Saturday’s election in Akwa Ibom.
They also prayed to the Court to authorize the Presiding Officers of all polling stations to post EC460(E) ballot posters in conspicuous places at the polling stations after completing the EC8A ballots.
They seek an enforcement order forcing the commission to authorize presiding officials of all voting units in the state to electronically transmit or transfer the results of voting units, directly to the collation system and uploaded using the Bimodal Voter Authentication System (BVAS) upon completion of all voting units Send a scanned copy of the EC8A to the INEC Results Review Portal (IReV) immediately following the voting and results procedure.
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They said this was in line with Rule 38 of the poll guidelines.
INEC was heavily criticized for failing to comply with its guidelines for electronically transmitting election results in the Feb. 25 presidential and National Assembly votes.
In his ruling, Egwuatu also ordered the Commission to upload the scanned copy of EC8A to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) Ibom using the Bimodal Voter Authentication System (BVAS) immediately after the completion of the voting and result procedures in all voting units in Akwa.
The judge further directed the Commission to post the publication of its result poster EC60(E) in a prominent place at the polling place upon completion of the state’s EC8A result form.
He likewise ordered INEC to enforce compliance with Section 27(1) of the Elections Act 2022 by engaging the services of an independent, competent and reliable logistics company who are non-partisan when distributing election materials during polling in the state or any known political supporter responsible for distributing election materials and personnel.
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