The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) affirmed on Tuesday that some documents requested by the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, for presentation as exhibits at the presidential election petition tribunal does not exist.
The commission stated this at the resumed hearing of the LP petition in Abuja.
Obi and his party are challenging the outcome of the February 25 election in a petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023.
Respondents in the petition are INEC, President Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima and their All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Deputy Director in charge of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Mr. Lawrence Bayode, who appeared for the commission, told the panel that out of the five documents requested by Obi, two were nonexistent, while one was a work in progress.
One of LP’s witnesses, Ms. Loretta Ogah, an ICT cloud engineer, said she contested the election into the House of Representatives in Cross River State but lost the election.
Ogah, who was cross-examined by Wole Olanipakun (SAN), counsel for Tinubu and Shettima, said she sued INEC after her loss because the commission omitted her name on its portal due to network failure.
She added that the glitches did not occur on the commission’s portal on February 25 when cross-examined by Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), counsel for APC.
She said she did not know INEC’s password protocol as she was not INEC’s employee.
The court, presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned further hearing till today Wednesday.
Source: NAN
