The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has asked the Enugu Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal to rely on the certified true copies of BVAS data tendered by the candidate of the Labour Party to decide on the issue of alleged overvoting said to have taken place in Nkanu East Local Government Area during the March 18 governorship elections in the state.
INEC, which failed to bring some of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation Systems BVAS machines used for Owoh and Ugbawka areas in Nkanu East, contrary to what was contained in the subpoena issued by the Tribunal on Saturday, asked that the copies which the commission had availed Labour Party and which have been tendered before the court be taken as valid evidence.
In order to determine whether there was overvoting in the impacted areas, the tribunal had to rely on the evidence provided by the Labour Party and its candidate, Chijioke Edeoga.
Edeoga, who closed his case at the tribunal today, had petitioned the Chairman of INEC, accusing the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, of refusing to heed entreaties to allow a forensic examination of the BVAS machines, in disregard to a lawfully issued subpoena.
Following a series of attempts to circumvent the subpoena issued on June 26, 2023, the tribunal issued an oral subpoena on Saturday, forcing INEC to appear today with the BVAS machines.
No reason was given by the official INEC representative, Eze Okafor, for failing to tender the 10 BVAS machines as demanded by the tribunal, leaving the tribunal to rely on the evidence supplied by the Labour Party and its candidate, to decide whether there was overvoting in the affected areas.
The Labour Party had, in its petition, alleged that the votes tally for Nkanu LGA was raised from about 15,000 accredited voters to 32,000 votes, representing a hike of more than 16,000 votes.
The Electoral Act provides for cancellation of votes in areas where such cases of overvoting are established.
Chijioke Edeoga had approached the tribunal seeking redress, following the declaration of Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the March 18, 2023 Governorship Elections in the state.
Among the grounds contained in his petition include alleged forgery of NYSC discharge certificate, as well as alleged cases of suppression of voters in Udenu and Enugu South Local Government Areas.
Others include alleged cases of overvoting in some electoral areas in Nkanu East Local Government Area and other forms of discrepancies in Igbo Eze North Local Council.
