SAN FRANCISCO, September 11, (THEWILL) – The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) has said the allegation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, that INEC transmitted results of the last presidential election to a server could not be proven.
Atiku had in his petition said results from the server of INEC show he defeated President Muhammadu Buhari in the election but INEC had denied having such a server.
But in his ruling on Thursday, Mohammed Garba, the presiding judge, said the petitioners failed to prove the existence of an INEC server or that the electoral commission transmitted results electronically adding that there is no law in place in Nigeria that allows electronic transmission of results or the transmission of result using card reader.
“I have carefully examined exhibit 28 (INEC Manual for Election) tendered by the petitioners, I did not see where there is provision for electronic transmission of result of election,” Garba held.
“The issue is: Can it truly be said that the section amended actually empowered INEC to transmit election results electronically?
“The court only has a duty to interpret the law. The court has no power to amend the law.
“It is undeniable that the transmission of election result is manual at different and all levels of the elections at different stages from the states to the national level.
“There is no provision authorizing the first respondent or any of its officers to transfer election results to any of the servers. There is also nothing allowing the first respondents to use the smart card reader for the collation of results.
“I’m not aware that the card reader machine has replaced the voters’ register.”
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