It is longer new that the Appeal Court aiiting in Abuja set aside the January 27 judgement that declared Oyetola the winner of the state 2022 election. The three man panel led by Justice Saibu reinstated Gov Adeleke as the winner of the election. The judgement has raised some dust in the judiciary even among the Osun indigenes. The judgement for now is sacrosanct and can only be tested at the SC where another seven man will evaluate the Tribunal anfy the AC judgement. I have asked some of my people online on legal provisions guidind elections in Nigeria now vis a vis revised electoral laws in the face of the AC judgement. When perusing the electoral laws,I have found the following for our discussion and considetion: Sections 47, 51 and 64 of the Electoral Act 2022.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Section 47 (2) of the Electoral Act 2022 stipulates that ‘To vote, the presiding officer shall use a smart card reader or any other technological device that may be prescribed by the Commission, for the accreditation of voters, to verify, confirm or authenticate the particulars of the intending voter in the manner prescribed by the Commission.’ And in the case of Osun Governorship Election, BVAS was deployed.

“Section 51 (2) of the Act further stipulates that ‘where the number of votes cast at an election in any polling unit exceeds the number of accredited voters in that polling unit, the presiding officer shall cancel the result of the election in that polling unit. ‘

“And in resolving dispute as to election results, Section 64 (6) outlines the steps to be taken, including obtaining ‘data of accreditation recorded and transmitted directly from each

polling unit where the election is disputed as prescribed under section 47(2) of this Act ; and (d) the votes and result of the election recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed, as prescribed under section 60 (4) of this Act.’ All these were the materials pleaded before the Tribunal and were transmitted to the Appeal Court. But the learned Justices said the voters should be added .

Again, look at the issue of data from INEC’s back-end server. Ahead of the 2023 Governorship and State House of Assembly elections, INEC in its affidavit to the Court of Appeal, which was granted, says the accreditation data contained in the BVAS could not be tampered with or lost, as they would be stored and easily retrieved from its accredited back-end server. Yet, last Friday’s judgement stated clearly that nobody can rely on accreditation data from the same INEC back-end server. Obi and Atiku rely on BVAS back end data which cannot be manipulated unlike Voters register as the basis of their petitions. The questions are : 1 Can the AC judgement survive the test at the SC? 2 What will be the hope of all those in APC PDP and LP who have filed petitions on our various last elections on the basis of BVAS back end report? What are your opinions. I wish all of us a happy discussion!

W