The Presidential Election Petition Court granted admission of the data analysis and accompanying appendices of the February 25 presidential election results. Additionally, the court accepted the submission of blurred results from 18,088 polling units, sourced from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) results viewing portal. The Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, presented this evidence as part of their challenge to the election outcome, which declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the elected president.
During the hearing, the petitioners’ counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), represented the LP and Obi. Ikpeazu informed the court that he planned to call Professor Eric Ofoedu, a mathematics expert, as a witness. Ofoedu had been engaged by the LP shortly before the election to analyze the election data. The court admitted the letter requesting Ofoedu’s services, as well as the subpoena served to him.
The respondents in the case, namely INEC, Tinubu, his vice-president Kashim Shettima, and the APC, objected to the admissibility of the documents. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), counsel for the APC, objected specifically to the subpoena but consented to admitting the engagement letter. They reserved their reasons for objection for a later stage in the petition.
Under the examination of Ikpeazu (SAN), Professor Ofoedu presented reports on data analysis of the election, an investigation of INEC Results Viewing scores, and separate data analysis of results from Rivers and Benue states. The court admitted these reports as exhibits PCG1 to PVG3, respectively, and also accepted the blurred results from 18,088 polling units obtained from the IReV system.
The respondents did not cross-examine the witness due to objections regarding the late submission of the witness statement. The five-member panel, led by Justice Tsammani, ruled that cross-examination would take place on June 16. Additionally, the petitioners summoned Arise News Television to assist their case against Tinubu.
During the hearing, Lumnie Edevbie, a staff member of Arise News Television, tendered a flash drive containing a video clip showing INEC Chairman Yakubu Mahmoud giving a speech at Chatham House in London on January 17. In the speech, Mahmoud advocated for the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and highlighted the IRev as INEC’s primary archive and repository for election results. The respondents objected to the admissibility of the video clip, but the court accepted it as evidence and marked it as an exhibit in the petition.
The court adjourned the hearing to June 16 for further proceedings in the LP and Obi’s petition.