A broadcast journalist with DAAR Communications Plc, Ms
Ijeoma Osamor, testified on Friday at the Presidential Election Petition Court
(PEPC), Daily Post reports.
Osamor, who anchors the
programme “Democracy Today” on Africa Independent Television (AIT) was
subpoenaed as the 7th witness (PW 7) for Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
Obi and LP are petitioners
in the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 challenging the election that brought
President Bola Tinubu into power.
Respondents are the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Bola Tinubu and
Vice President Kashim Shettima, and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Osamor, while being
cross-examined by APC counsel, Abiodun Owonikoko, avowed that INEC chairman,
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the results of the Feb. 25 presidential election
would be transmitted live.
One of the grounds raised
by the petitioners in support of their prayers to invalidate the return of Bola
Tinubu as President was that Yakubu reneged on his promise to upload the results
sent to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to the INEC Results
Viewing (IReV) portal in real-time.
The video evidence
tendered before the PEPC by the petitioners bordered on clips showing the INEC
chairman at different times assuring Nigerians of the use of technology in the
presidential election.
The court again admitted
in evidence another flash drive and played out of it in the open court a clip
of Mahmoud delivering a speech emphasising the deployment of BVAS and IReV for
the elections.
When asked by Owonikoko if
she was aware that a few days before the election, Yakubu, in a press
statement, said the results would no longer be uploaded in real-time, Osamor
said her news organisation is focused on live coverage of events and
programmes.
Owonikoko cited a
publication by The Tribune on Feb. 23 that election results would no longer be
transmitted in real-time, but Osamor said the publication by The Tribune could
have been based on an interview granted to the reporter.
The News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) reports that The Tribune on Feb. 23 published a story with the headline
“We Won’t Transmit Raw Figures of Election Results, INEC Chairman.”
According to The Tribune,
Yakubu said that at a meeting with the leaders of the international election
observers who visited him at the commission.
Osamor, however, insisted
that while covering the beat, she was present during the said period at all
press briefings and at the collation centre, particularly on the said day.
She said that Yakubu did
not make such a statement.
Meanwhile, the five-member
panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned until Monday for the
cross-examination of the witness and further hearing of the petition.
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Title :
Tinubu’s Victory: AIT Broadcaster Ijeoma Osamor Testifies For Peter Obi
Description : A broadcast journalist with DAAR Communications Plc, Ms Ijeoma Osamor, testified on Friday at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PE...
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