macfred811

Update on Presidential Election Tribunal:
Next PEPT Dates:

Respondents (INEC, BAT/Shett & APC)’s Address : July 17th, 2023

Petitioners( LP & Obi, PDP & Atiku)’s Address : July 25th, 2023
(7 days after Resp’s address)

Respondent’s Reply: July 31st 2023
(5 days after Petitioner’s Address)

Adoption of Addresses : August 1st 2023

PEPT Judgement : To Be Announced

NB:
Count of days includes all week days from Monday to Saturday but excludes Sundays
Latest possible date for PEPT Judgment is Sept 16th, 2023 ( which is Maximum 180 days of filing of Petitions)
Keep These Dates On Your FingerTips!

Mac-Fred Esq ❤

A whole lot have been said or are still been said by a lot of people as regards the outcome of the Presidential Election Tribunal petition.
From those supporting the Petitioners, you get to hear something like, "there is going to be a re run election", "INEC does not have anything to prove that is why they called one witness", "no need again Tinubu should just leave the A*o Rock". While from those supporting the Respondents we hear something like, "the Petitioners have wasted their money going to court", "after all said and done, the Petitioners could not even prove their case" etc
From all these, it is good to note that Nigeria is in a big trying time and any statement can inflame anger, pain, anxiety among citizens.
I for one will advise that we all should cross our hands and allow the Judiciary to do their job. All these talks from each parties are already piling pressures on the Judiciary. Let us give them that freedom they deserve, so that they deliver their judgment without fear nor favour, without pressure nor pleasure. Let us show we are actually democrats and not mere civilians
I will close by using the words of Bishop Kukah, "Being in civilian society does not mean having democratic state. Democracy is the one where there is freedom of judiciary to adjudicate on any matter with fairness, equity and justice". Indeed let justice prevail as all eyes are on our Judiciary.

Mac-Fred Esq ❤

This 2023 Presidential Election has really divided us more than anything since the return of "Democrazy" in 1999. This election has made us to be ethnocentric and religiously sentimental that once anything is done the first thing we ask is, "where is he/she from?" "Oh! That's their religion that's how they behave". I wonder if Nigeria will ever survive this division, only time will tell.

Mac-Fred Esq ❤

Update on Presidential Election Tribunal Proceedings Yesterday:

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has opened and closed its defence in the petition by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) before the Tribunal.
INEC’s counsel, Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, announced the closure of the first respondent’s case after the conclusion of the testimony of its sole witness, Dr Lawrence Bayode, a Deputy Director in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Department of INEC.
Before calling on its witness, INEC tendered some documents which were admitted and marked as exhibits.
Led by Mahmood, the witness told the court that he worked for INEC for 24 years.
Under cross-examination by Patrick Ikwueto, SAN, counsel for the petitioners, the witness told the court that the testing of the software application for the election was carried out on Feb 4.
He added that there was a report on the testing but it was not with him in the court.
The petitioners, however, tendered the E- transmission saver Web and compliance form through the witness which was admitted and marked as evidence.
The witness told the court that the pre-production test was carried out before the election.
When asked if the hard copy of the results would be different from the ones in the IreV, he said no.
He, however, added that anything could happen when sending the results from form EC8A to the IreV.
He admitted that performance, functionality and vulnerability tests were carried out before the election.
The witness agreed with Ikwueto that the report of the e-Transmission application identifies remediation to be undertaken to resolve the high vulnerability identified in the report.
The witness said he does not know INEC ‘s web address where its materials are published.
In his cross-examination, Wole Olanipekun, SAN counsel for Tinubu and Shettima asked if the foundation and authenticity of any election by INEC are rooted in forms EC8A and EC8E, to which the witness replied, yes.
The witness added that blurred documents downloaded from INEC IreV would not affect the physical results in form EC8A because the image is of no relevance.
He said the election ended with the recording, snapping and sending to INEC ‘s IreV.
Answering questions from APC counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the witness said the physical results are used for computing the election final results and that the glitches that occurred on the day of the election did not affect the collation of the results.
He added that if what was downloaded from the IreV are not clear the physical results could also be obtained.
He told the court further that ECOWAS monitored the election but he does not have their report.
The witness stated that the cloud trial log account of INEC can be obtained from Amazon Web Services (AWS).
He added that this shows the patches that were deployed on E- transmission applications on AWS to fix the glitches that were encountered on election day
After the testimony of the sole witness, Mahmoud told the court that INEC’s defence in the Obi and Labour Party petition is closed.
Olanipekun later told the court that Tinubu and Shetimma, who are listed as second and third respondents in the petition will tomorrow being today open their defence.
The five-member panel presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned until tomorrow for Tinubu and Shettima to open their defence by 9am

Mac-Fred Esq ❤

Update on Presidential Election Petition Tribunal Proceeding Today:

Good evening all, after a week rest, we back to the Proceedings.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday in Abuja began its defence of the February 25 presidential election on a shaky note, with none of its three witnesses present at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT)
Contrary to the scheduled activities of the Tribunal, INEC, which conducted the disputed election and billed to open defence, came to the court without any witness
Its lead counsel A. B Mahmood SAN, informed the court of his plan to call three witnesses to counter the allegations of the Labour Party (LP) and its Presidential candidate, Peter Gregory Obi.
He, however, lamented that none of the witnesses was in Tribunal due to domestic reasons for him to open the defense.
He pleaded with the Tribunal to bear with him and applied for adjournment.
However, lead counsel to Obi, Dr Livy Uzuoku SAN, expressed shock and surprise with the conduct of the electoral body.
He told the Tribunal that the INEC Counsel ought to have taken him into confidence before the commencement of the proceedings.
However, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, who stood for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Kashim Shettima, Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN, who represented the All Progressives Congress (APC), did not object to request for adjournment of INEC’s plea for the case to be shifted.
Presiding Justice of the Tribunal, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, subsequently fixed a new date of July 4 by 9am for the electoral body.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), today closed its case after calling a lone witness in Atiku Abubakar’s petition.
At the resumed proceedings on Monday, INEC’s lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud, called the first witness, Lawrence Bayode, an assistant director in charge of INEC’s ICT department.
Mr Bayode, adopted his witness statement on oath.
He was led in evidence by A. B Mahmoud, INEC’s lead counsel.
Mr Mahmoud, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), tendered a set of documents comprising letters from the APC and addressed to the electoral commission, announcing the withdrawal of Kashim Shettima from the Borno Central Senatorial District elect.
Afterwards, Messrs Olanipekun and Fagbemi SANs took turns to cross-examine Mr Bayode concerning the electoral umpire’s deployment of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines for the presidential election.
Subsequently, a certified true copy of the newspaper publication containing INEC heads-up regarding the electronic collation of results was tendered and admitted in evidence.
But Mr Uche SAN, lead counsel of Atiku Abubakar and PDP, objected to its admissibility.
The commission’s inability to transmit the presidential election results from polling units across the country in real-time forms one of the key issues before the court for determination.

Mac-Fred Esq ❤