On Wednesday, the Presidential Election Petition Court at the Court of Appeal in Abuja granted the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) request to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used in the presidential election.

The court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, held that preventing INEC from reconfiguring the BVAS would adversely affect the forthcoming governorship and State Assembly elections.

The court dismissed objections by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, against the request, stating that allowing the objections would tie the hands of INEC. Justice Joseph Ikyegh, who presided over the panel, chided the applicants for repeating their request to be allowed to scan and make copies of the electoral materials in INEC’s possession, stating that it amounted to an abuse of court process.

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The court ordered INEC to allow the applicants to inspect and carry out a digital forensic examination of all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the elections and to avail them of the Certified True Copy of the result of the physical inspection of the BVAS.

INEC lead counsel, Tanimu Inuwa, gave the assurance on Wednesday at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, while opposing an application filed by the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on BVAS deployed in the presidential poll. Opposing the application, Inuwa argued it would delay the conduct of governorship and houses of assembly elections scheduled for Saturday.

INEC insisted that granting the request by Obi would affect its preparations for the impending governorship and houses of assembly elections.