The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) witnessed the testimony of Ms Ijeoma Osamor, a broadcast journalist with DAAR Communications Plc, on Friday.
Osamor, renowned for her anchoring of the programme “Democracy Today” on Africa Independent Television (AIT), was summoned as the 7th witness (PW 7) to testify on behalf of Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
Obi and LP have filed a petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 contesting the election that resulted in President Bola Tinubu’s assumption of power.
The respondents in this case are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Under cross-examination by APC counsel, Abiodun Owonikoko, Osamor affirmed that INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had stated that the results of the Feb. 25 presidential election would be transmitted live.
One of the arguments put forth by the petitioners to challenge the legitimacy of Bola Tinubu’s presidency was that Yakubu failed to fulfill his commitment to upload the results sent to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) onto the INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal in real-time.
The petitioners presented video evidence to the PEPC, featuring clips of the INEC chairman assuring Nigerians of the use of technology in the presidential election.
During the court proceedings, another flash drive was admitted as evidence, and a clip of Yakubu delivering a speech emphasizing the deployment of BVAS and IReV for the elections was played out in open court.
When asked by Owonikoko if she was aware that a few days prior to the election, Yakubu had announced that the results would no longer be uploaded in real-time, Osamor stated that her news organization focused on live coverage of events and programs.
Owonikoko referred to a publication by The Tribune on Feb. 23, reporting that election results would no longer be transmitted in real-time. However, Osamor suggested that The Tribune may have based their report on an interview conducted with the INEC chairman.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that The Tribune published a story on Feb. 23 with the headline: “We Won’t Transmit Raw Figures of Election Results, INEC Chairman.”
According to The Tribune, Yakubu made this statement during a meeting with leaders of international election observers who visited the commission.
Nevertheless, Osamor maintained that she was present during press briefings and at the collation center throughout that period, asserting that Yakubu did not make the alleged statement.
Meanwhile, the five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned the session until Monday for the continuation of the witness’s cross-examination and further hearing of the petition.
