The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in Abuja has admitted in evidence the final report of the European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) on the February 25 presidential election, which faulted the conduct and outcome of the poll that produced President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner.
The report was tendered by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is challenging Tinubu’s victory on the grounds of irregularities, corrupt practices and non-compliance with the electoral laws.
The EU EOM report stated that only 31 percent of the presidential election results were uploaded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s Results Viewing (IReV) portal, and that the collation of results was done manually by INEC’s presiding officers.
The report also claimed that the presidential election did not show credibility, fairness and transparency in the ways and manners in which it was conducted by INEC.
The admission of the report as an exhibit was opposed by Tinubu, his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and INEC, who are the respondents in the petition.
However, Justice Haruna Tsammani, who presided over the five-member panel of judges, overruled their objections and admitted the report as relevant and material to the petition.
The tribunal also heard from INEC’s sole witness and Director of Information Technology (IT), Lawrence Bayode, who admitted that there was a technical glitch that affected the uploading of results, but said it did not affect the integrity of the election.
The hearing of the petition continues today.
