By Matthew Tabe
Two subpoenaed witnesses of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election admitted that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) failed to transmit the results of the election after the collation.
The witnesses made the admission at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) sitting in Abuja on Thursday, June 8, 2023.
The witnesses, Friday Egwuma and Grace Timothy both ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the BVAS machine allocated to them developed system error immediately after the results of the Senate and House of Representatives aspects of the poll were freely transmitted.
ALSO READ:Â Detained customs officer, Segun Owombo, reveals more details on fuel smuggling ‘cartel’
Egwuma served as a Presiding Officer in a Polling Unit in Abia state while Grace Timothy served with INEC in Plateau State.
In their subpoena evidence, the INEC ad-hoc staff who were questioned by Atiku’s lead counsel Chief Chris Uche SAN explained that they had to resort to other means of getting the results when it became clear that the BVAS machines would not help them.
ALSO READ:Â Aregbesola speaks on feud with OyetolaÂ
Other than the failure of the BVAS machines to transmit the presidential election results, the two witnesses admitted that voting went smoothly in their respective places of work.
Under cross-examination by Mr. Abubakar Mahmud SAN, who represents INEC, Egwuma explained that he resorted to an offline system in place of the BVAS machines.
In her own testimony, Grace Timothy told the Court that the greatest challenge she experienced during the election was the uploading of the presidential election results into the Irev portal.
The witnesses were also cross-examined by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN who represents President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN who represents the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Meanwhile, further hearing in the petition has been shifted to June 9 by the Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani.