The Abuja-based Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) dismissed Mr. Peter Obi's request to examine the technology utilized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the general elections.

In his challenge against the outcome of the presidential election held on February 25, Mr. Peter Obi sought the court's intervention through an application. He requested that the electoral body, INEC, be obliged to respond to a set of 12 crucial questions he listed in an interrogatory filed on May 22. Some of the information he sought from INEC included the date on which the functionality test was conducted for the alleged upgraded technological system used during the elections, as well as the identities and particulars of those responsible for conducting the test.

He also requested the court to mandate INEC to provide responses to the following inquiries: "Who was responsible for creating/deploying the four (4) application patches/updates aimed at resolving the HTTP 500 error that hindered the electronic transmission of the presidential election results on February 25, 2023?"

"What was the precise timing of the technical malfunction that caused the failure in electronically transmitting the presidential election result on February 25, 2023?"

"At what time were the technological glitches resolved or repaired?"

"What percentage of the presidential election result was uploaded on the I-Rev platform on February 25, 2023?"

"What percentage of the presidential election result was uploaded on the I-Rev platform at the moment the presidential election result was declared on March 1, 2023?"

"What percentage of the presidential election result was uploaded on the I-Rev platform at the moment of announcing the presidential election result on March 1, 2023?"

"If the presidential election and the National Assembly elections were held simultaneously on the same day and using the same technological devices, why were there only glitches specifically related to the presidential election?" Mr. Obi and his party further queried.

They argued that the responses from the Commission to these questions would be crucial in determining the outcome of the petition they filed challenging the announcement of President Bola Tinubu from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the victor of the presidential election.

However, all the respondents involved in the case requested the court to reject the application due to its lack of competence.

The parties mentioned as the 1st to 4th respondents in the petition include the INEC, President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and the APC.

In a unanimous ruling on Saturday, a panel of five judges led by Justice Haruna Tsammani dismissed the application on the grounds that it was submitted after the pre-hearing period had ended.

However, the panel granted permission to Mr. Obi and the Labour Party (LP) to present two video recordings as evidence in the open court.

In the initial video, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, can be seen assuring during a press conference held prior to the general elections that the election results would be transmitted electronically, allowing voters to observe real-time results.

The second video features INEC National Commissioner, Mr. Festus Okoye, similarly assuring that the results would be transmitted in real-time through the I-Rev portal, which would be accessible to the public.