PEPC absolves INEC of failing to transmit polling unit results to IReV

The Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) led by Justice Haruna Tsammani has said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was not mandated to send election results electronically.

The five-man tribunal said this during the PEPC ruling in Abuja on Wednesday.

The petitioners had claimed that INEC contravenes the Electoral Act by failing to upload the results of the election on IReV in real time.
But Justice Tsammani said: “There is no provision for the electronic transmission of election results in the Electoral Act 2022.”

The PEPC had also ruled that the seizure of $460,000 being proceeds of drugs from Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the United States was not as a result of any criminal activity.

The PEPC, in a judgment read by Justice Haruna Tsammani, stated that the forfeited $460,000 does not classify as fraud. In the ruling, the PEPC says to classify an action as fraud would require indictment, arrest and arraignment.

Recall that a United States District Court of Illinois seized $460,000 from Tinubu which it said was the result of narcotic trade.

The PEPC ruling is coming shortly after the PEPC earlier rested the argument of whether winning 25% in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was necessary in becoming President of Nigeria.

The Justice Tsammani-led panel, said the voters in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja are equal to every other voters in the states in Nigeria, hence, Abuja has no special status.

Recall that the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidates submitted that winning 25% of the FCT votes, in addition to meeting other requirements, was a necessary requirement of being declared winner in a presidential election.

The PEPC had earlier quashed the case of massive rigging alleged by Obi in favour of Tinubu.