Politics

How BVAS machines failed during presidential poll – INEC officials

Published

11 months ago

June 20, 2023

How BVAS machines failed during presidential poll – INEC officials

Three Presiding Officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines suddenly stopped working on February 25 when it was time to transmit results of the presidential election.

They spoke on Monday as witnesses at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja.

They were testifying in the case a former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, filed to nullify President Bola Tinubu’s election.

The witnesses however said they were able to transmit the results of the National Assembly election held on the same day, using the BVAS machines.

They said their repeated efforts to electronically transmit results of the presidential Poll to INEC’s IReV portal, failed.

The three witnesses; Janet Nuhu Turaki, Christopher Bulus Ardo and Victoria Sani, told the court that they conducted the presidential election as Presiding Officers, at Yobe, Bauchi and Katsina states, respectively.

Led in evidence-in-chief by a member of Atiku’s legal team, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, the witnesses, told the court that “technical glitches” they experienced with the BVAS machines, frustrated their jobs on election day.

They insisted that the problem of technical hitch arose at the point of transmitting only the presidential poll results.

The first witness, Turaki, told the court that the accreditation of voters with the BVAS machine went successfully, stressing that the electoral process became frustrating for her, at the point she wanted to upload the election results.

However, she told the court that she carefully collated the result of the presidential election in the polling unit she served and recorded the same in INEC’s form EC8A, after which she signed the document alongside agents of all the political parties.

In his own evidence, Ardo told the Court that he felt unfulfilled in his assignment with INEC on the election because he could not transmit the presidential election results as required by law.

The witnesses said they at the end of the presidential poll submitted a report to INEC enumerating the challenge they faced with the BVAS machines.

While Mr Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, appeared for INEC, President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, was represented by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, and Mr Charles Edosomwan, SAN, respectively.

The Justice Tsammani-led five-member panel of the court adjourned further hearing in the matter till Tuesday

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Politics

Aregbesola no longer member of APC, says ex-Osun commissioner

Published

4 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Trends Admin

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola

Aregbesola no longer member of APC, says ex-Osun commissioner

The immediate past Osun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Adebayo Adeleke, has said ex-Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, is not a member of the All Progressives Congress.

Adeleke served as a commissioner in the cabinet of ex-governor Adegboyega Oyetola, currently serving as the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.

He spoke at the Osun Central Senatorial meeting of the APC held in Osogbo, Osun State capital.

The APC chieftain said all serious party members in the state were aware that Aregbesola was not currently a member of the party.

Aregbesola no longer member of APC, says ex-Osun commissioner

Politics

Senate in rowdy session as lawmakers quarrel over sitting arrangement

Published

4 days ago

April 30, 2024

Trends Admin

Senate in rowdy session as lawmakers quarrel over sitting arrangement

The Senate broke into a rowdy session on Tuesday after three senators engaged in a heated argument over arrangement of seats.

Danjuma Goje, senator representing Gombe Central, and Sahabi Yau, senator representing Zamfara North, expressed displeasure over the seats assigned to them.

They complained to Opeyemi Bamidele, the majority leader.

The Senate is currently using its refurbished chamber, two years after renovation began on it.

According to the standing rules of the upper legislative chamber, senators should sit in order of rank.

The Easter and Sallah recess was postponed to accommodate the completion of the renovation of both chambers of the national assembly.

However, while Senate President Godswill Akpabio read his welcome address, the heated argument among the three senators began.

It was learnt that Goje and Yau, sitting on the second row on the right side of the aisle, did not like the seats allocated to them by the senate committee on services.

Sunday Karimi, senator representing Kogi west, is chair of the senate services committee.

The four-term senators subsequently insisted that they should have been assigned seats on the front row on the extreme right — opposite the row of the majority leader and the deputy senate president.

After the argument, Kawu Sumaila, senator representing Kano South, called for a “point of order” which was ignored.

Thereafter, Bamidele moved a motion for a closed-session.

Politics

Ganduje drums support for Tinubu, says no vacancy in Aso Rock 2027

Published

4 days ago

April 30, 2024

Trends Admin

Ganduje drums support for Tinubu, says no vacancy in Aso Rock 2027

National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, says members of the opposition are trying to discredit the Bola Tinubu-led administration in their desperation for Aso Rock in 2027.
He however declares that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock in 2027.

Ganduje said the administration of President Tinubu had been contending with accumulation of many years of neglect, policy summersaults and other disjointed decisions by previous administrations.

The APC national chairman gave the position while addressing supporters and support groups at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja.

Ganduje urged the APC supporters and groups to be committed to the party so that it could continue to forge ahead.

He said the leadership of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and its chieftains were afraid, having been defeated in the last general election and already foreseeing another defeat.

Ganduje said the NNPP elements were now engaged in a propaganda campaign against the leadership of APC.

He said, “They are so afraid because we are consolidating. They are so afraid all over the country because we are receiving new entrants into our party. That is creating fears in their minds.

“They are already eyeing 2027, but at that time, there is no vacancy. Only our President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will, Insha Allah, continue as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Ganduje claimed the leadership of NNPP and its chieftains in Kano State were sponsoring protests and campaigning for his removal as APC national chairman.