It’s commendable that the Imo election tribunal was moved to Nasarawa – Group

Igbo political stakeholders, including the President, the Court of Appeal, and the Imo Election Petition Tribunal Judges, have been praised for their decision to move the tribunal’s sitting from Owerri to Nasarawa State.

The National/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which had been meeting at the old High Court location in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, over the weekend, moved to the High Court complex in Mararaba, Nasarawa State, which is located across from shopping malls.

According to a statement from Daniel Odiba, the NBA’s Owerri branch’s publicity secretary, made the announcement: This is to inform all attorneys, litigants, and members of the public that the High Court Complex, across from shopping malls in Mararaba Nyanya, Nasarawa State, has taken over as the new home of the National/State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, formerly located in Owerri, Imo State.

In a statement released on Tuesday and provided to our correspondent in Abuja, the leader of the Forum, Sam Nwandu, responded to the development and expressed optimism that the Tribunal will now have the environment to consider the contested issues thanks to the relocation.

The following is an excerpt from the statement: “With this relocation, we believe that it will provide the judges with the proper environment to examine how election results above the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS, were announced by the electoral body, INEC. There is no doubt that the majority of the actual outcomes of the House of Representatives, Senate, and House of Assembly elections held on February 25th were different from the original outcomes as chosen by the local voters.

According to the uploaded results through IREV, “INEC BVAS was active during the February 25 and March 18 State Assembly election, including the supplementary election, and what INEC declared was completely at odds with the uploaded figures by BVAS.

For instance, in the Okigwe Federal Constituency, the total accreditation uploaded in the INEC BVAS machine did not match the significant figures of over 40,000 used to declare the APC the winner over the Labour Party, which won the election. Less than 14,000 people were accredited in Owerri Municipal, but more than 70,000 were used to declare the APC winner over the Labour Party candidate.

“In the State Assembly race for Ideato North Local Government, the PDP received 5,063 votes to the APC’s 4,097, and the results were uploaded to the INEC server. However, the APC candidate was declared the victor over the PDP candidate, who received numbers higher than the record for INEC accreditation. Additionally, figures were manipulated in the Mbaitolu Federal Constituency to declare the APC the winner of a supplementary election they lost.

“APC was declared the winner in Oguta/Ohaji/Oru West Federal Constituency with election results that were higher than the BVAS recorded accreditation figures, where PDP candidate Kingsley Uju was leading despite being detained on election day. Figures above accreditation numbers were used in Orlu Federal Constituency, which the APC lost, to determine the winner.

“Results were announced in favor of APC in the Okigwe and Orlu senates with manufactured figures above the total number of votes certified by the BVAS machine. A similar incident occurred in Ahiazu Mbaise, where results were announced with fictitious BVAS accreditation.

APC received 79,043 votes, LP received 12,765 votes, and PDP received 9,674 votes in the Owerri Municipal Council election, shockingly revealed by the INEC Returning Officer. This proves that BVAS was not used to conduct the election in Owerri Municipal Council; the judges should critically examine these issues to ensure that justice is done and that the public’s faith in the electoral process is restored.

“In Imo, the electoral system was raped and then set ablaze, and the only way to put out that fire is for the court to look into the political and electoral madness that occurred during the 2023 general election and restore the people’s confidence in the electoral system and reaffirm their hope in the judiciary by nullifying all of the fraudulently announced results with figures above accredited voters number or manipulated BVAS accreditation numbers which were done in such a way to circumvent the law,”