Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has said server logs and uploads showed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) manipulated the results of the February 25 presidential election.

Obi and LP’s submission is contained in a further reply to the preliminary objection by INEC asking the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to dismiss their petition challenging the outcome of the election.

INEC had told the tribunal to dismiss Obi and LP’s petition.

However, in the reply filed by their lead counsel, Levy Uzoukwu (SAN), Obi and LP said there were no factual basis for INEC’s alleged circumvention of the mandatory transmission of the results of the election from the BVAS in the polling units to the IReV.

Obi and LP said the alleged issue of HTTP 500 error invented by INEC was an excuse for its non-compliance with the mandatory provision for direct upload.

Obi and LP further averred “that in the 1st Respondent (INEC)’s unlawful invention of ‘technological glitches’ by which results of the election were misrepresented, the actual scores of the petitioners (Obi and LP) were suppressed, omitted, miscalculated and deducted as shown in the reports and forensic analysis pleaded in the petition and incorporated by reference herein.”

Obi and LP contended that INEC was hasty in the declaration of election in favour Bola Tinubu of the APC despite the results showing they did not score the majority of lawful votes in the election and failed to meet the constitutional requirement of 25 percent of the total votes in two-third of states of the Federation and the FCT.

Obi and LP criticised the non-neutrality of INEC in the petition, saying “the appellate courts have repeatedly admonished the Ist Respondent (INEC) of its need to remain neutral in election proceedings. However, the 1st Respondent (INEC) hereof, has remained impervious to change.

“Therefore, it is not only an embarrassment but a repudiation of the duty of the 1st Respondent (INEC) when it adorns the garb of a contestant in an election it conducted as an umpire to raise preliminary objection against an election petition” he said. (Daily Trust)

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