From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Eric Uwanduegwu Ofoedu, a professor of Mathematics at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, has disclosed that a total votes of 2, 565, 629 accredited voters were not reflected in the final result of the February 25 presidential election announced by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmood.
Ofoedu explained to the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC), why he employed the use of projection in his analysis of election results from Rivers and Benue states.
The professor led to give his evidence in chief by Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN, the lawyer representing the LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, alleged that when the blurred results he downloaded were matched with Form EC8As (polling unit results) given to Labour Party agents at the affected Polling Units, votes of 2,565,269 accredited voters were not reflected in the final results announced by the INEC chairman.
“I observed that, from IREV portal, scores on Form EC8As of 39,546 polling units were inaccessible – contained uploads not connected with the Presidential Election.
From the IREV portal, 18,088 polling units’ results were blurred. This number of PUs negatively impacted the votes of 2,565,269 accredited voters and 9,165,191 voters that collected their PVCs,” the professor had said in his statement on oath.
He had tendered in evidence, reports of Data Analysis from the results of Nigeria’s February 25, 2023 presidential election in Rivers and Benue state, among other documents.
Ofoedu had told the court that he downloaded 18,088 blurred polling unit results from the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IREV.
Arise News staff, Lumic Edevbie, who was also cross-examined by the respondents, as the petitioner’s fifth witness, said while at the Chatham House, London, “in summary, INEC and its official decided to use technology for the 2023 elections.”
In his evidence, the sixth petitioners witness (PW6), a staff of African Independent Television (AIT), Ijeoma O, tendered a video of the television station’s Democracy Day programme, which featured the INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood, saying that election results will be uploaded from polling units on election day in real-time.
The case was further adjourned to Monday by the five-man panel of the court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani.