The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court to vary the orders that were granted to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, to inspect materials used in the last presidential election. In a motion on notice filed on March 4, INEC is praying that the court lift the restraint preventing it from tampering with election materials. The commission says it needs to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the upcoming March 11 governorship and state‑house elections.
On March 3, a panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh granted leave to Atiku and Obi to inspect the election materials used by INEC in the February 25 presidential election. The permission followed two separate ex parte applications filed by the candidates, who placed second and third respectively in the election won by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC). INEC’s application, seen by NAN, seeks to vary the order so it can reconfigure its 176,846 BVAS units for the March 11 polls. No hearing date has been set.
A source explained that, given the large number of BVAS devices required across the states, INEC must reconfigure the units used on February 25 and deploy them to polling units for the March 11 elections. The technical team must begin the reconfiguration promptly, working on each device individually. Failure to obtain the court’s order could postpone the Saturday governorship and state‑house elections. The source noted that the application became necessary after the court restrained INEC from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until a proper inspection was completed and certified true copies were issued.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Voter Education and Publicity, Festus Okoye, could not be reached for comment on Monday. Meanwhile, the PDP said the Court of Appeal’s ruling granting its presidential candidate permission to inspect election materials has not yet been complied with by INEC. A National Working Committee member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the party’s legal team has not begun the inspection because INEC has not granted access. He warned that if INEC continues to deny access, the law will compel the commission to obey the court’s pronouncement.
Director of Strategic Communications for the PDP’s National Election Management Committee, Dele Momodu, suggested that INEC may have appealed the ruling, which would limit what the party can do in the interim. Nonetheless, the PDP welcomed INEC’s application to reconfigure the BVAS, with Deputy National Publicity Secretary Ibrahim Abdullahi calling it “a second litmus test of INEC’s commitment to credible polls.”
The APC, however, asked INEC to explain why the BVAS needed reconfiguration ahead of Saturday’s election. Chief Spokesman for the APC presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo, acknowledged INEC’s statutory powers but said the commission must clearly explain its actions to avoid suspicion. He emphasized that the APC is not there to defend, support, or criticize INEC, but simply wants a free and fair process. National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka added that the media should seek clarification from INEC and that any technical reconfiguration should be approved by the court.
The Labour Party described INEC’s BVAS reconfiguration as “medicine after death.” Director General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Akin Oshuntokun, said the party has lost faith in the commission, questioning the need for the reconfiguration and criticizing former President Muhammadu Buhari for failing to deliver credible elections. He expressed skepticism about the technical process, likening it to unnecessary wiping of information from the cloud.
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