The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has concluded its defence in the petition by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after calling one witness and tendering some documents before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).

INEC’s lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), announced the closure of his client’s case after an Information Technology (IT) Practitioner with INEC, (its sole witness), Dr. Lawrence Bayode, adopted his written testimony and was cross-examined by lawyers to the respondents and the petitioners.

Bayode, a Deputy Director in INEC’s IT Department, insisted that there were glitches experienced during the transmission of the presidential election results which affected the real-time transmission of the results.

He added, among others, that whether or not results were electronically or manually transmitted cannot affect the integrity of the scores already captured in the polling unit results sheets (Form EC8A).

After Mahmoud announced the closure of his client’s case, the lawyer to Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) informed the court that the second respondent (Tinubu) will open his defence on Tuesday. (The Nation)

•Photo caption: PDP’s presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar at the courtroom in Abuja on Thursday. Flanked by the National Chairman of PDP, Umar Damagun (to Atiku’s left), and former Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke (to Atiku’s right).