The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria’s electoral umpire, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, says he will speak on the controversy surrounding INEC server after the ongoing Presidential Election Tribunal delivers the final judgment on the election.
Yaahoo Journalist recalls that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition party, Atiku Abubakar, had alleged that results from INEC server showed that he won the election, a claim which the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s ruling party condemned strongly.
In response, INEC dismissed Abuabakar’s claim, saying the results he paraded were fabricated.
To back up his claim, the PDP presidential candidate said he was willing to engage experts from Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle to verify his claim.
The former Vice President and the PDP had said INEC pulled down the results from its server and replaced it with a doctored one to favour President Muhammadu Buhari.
This online news platform recalls that the commission had said figures from the 36 states and federal capital territory (FCT) gave Buhari 15,191,847 votes, while Atiku came second with 11,262,978 votes.
Challenging the results at the election tribunal in his 139-page petition, Abubakar said the results from INEC server showed he polled 18,356,732 votes to defeat Buhari who had 16,741,430 votes.
Yaahoo Journalist recalls that the former Vice President and his party had prayed the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to grant them access to inspect the central server allegedly used by INEC to transmit results during the 2019 general elections.
But at the resumption of the hearing on Monday, June 24, Tribunal in a unanimous decision, ruled that the request could not be granted since the issue of whether such central server existed or not, is already a subject of controversy in the substantive petition that is challenging President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.
However, speaking on the matter, Yakubu advised Nigerians to go and read the statements on oath by the petitioners and the defendants, to have a full grasp of the issues surrounding the controversial server.
The chairman of the electoral body made this comment at the conclusion of a session on the review of the 2019 General Elections with the media in Abuja during the weekend.
“In our jurisprudence, you cannot comment on a live matter in court. The matter is subjudice but after the judgment, I will speak on the server issue.”
“There are a lot of documents you have not got. There are statements on oath by the petitioners and the defendants. Go and read these statements on oath. It is actually prudent to go back and read the statements.
“In some countries, they will be campaigning till the election day because there is trust. But in Nigeria, we print ballot papers, entrust these ballot papers with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) and distribution is always done with heavy security. So, here, it is a question of trust.”
“Remember, some people attacked INEC offices in some states during the last elections because of ballot papers and other sensitive materials. Trust is key in any electoral process. The major difference between us and other countries is trust.”
“I cannot remember any country in Europe that does electronic voting; they still engage in manual process. Holland tried electronic voting but after 20 years, they reverted to ballot papers,” the INEC Chairman said.