Headlines
Atiku Gives ‘Details’ of INEC Servers, Set to Call Microsoft, IBM Experts as Witnesses
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, is set to call Microsoft, IBM and Oracle experts to authenticate his claim that the servers belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission showed that he defeated President Muhammadu Buhari by over 1.6 million votes.
Atiku also identified the server where the results are kept as INEC_PRES_RSLT_SRV2019 and its unique Mac address as 94-57-A5-DC-64-B9 with Microsoft Product ID 00252-70000-0000-AA535.
The PDP candidate said this in fresh response to the reply of INEC to his petition.
Atiku and the PDP will also be expected to tender INEC’s training manual on elections, a printout of the votes of candidates from smart card readers and a printout of the forensic audit report on INEC’s server as evidence.
The former Vice-President and the PDP claimed to have polled a total of 18,356,732 votes to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress who he said scored 16,741,430 votes.
However, INEC’s Director, Information and Communications Technology, Mr Chidi Nwafor, in his witness statement on oath attached to the reply, specifically denied the “server results” which the PDP and Atiku were laying claim to.
He said all the results were collated manually and were never transmitted electronically.
Atiku, in his fresh response, said the figures he claimed to have scored were genuine.
The reply read in part, “The servers from which the said figures were derived belong to the 1st respondent (INEC). The figures and votes were transmitted to the 1st respondent’s Presidential result’s server 1 and thereafter aggregated in INEC_PRES_RSLT_SRV2019 whose physical address or unique Mac address as 94-57-A5-DC-64-B9 with Microsoft Product ID 00252-70000-0000-AA535. The descriptions are unique to the 1st respondent’s server.”
On how the case would be argued, the PDP and Atiku stated, “The petitioners will at the trial of this petition rely on experts on Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, amongst others.”
The PDP candidate and his party said one of the spokespersons for the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Festus Keyamo (SAN), even attested to the fact that the election data was in INEC’s servers when he wrote a petition to the Inspector-General of Police calling on him to arrest Atiku.
The petition further stated, “The spokesperson for the second respondent’s campaign organisation (Keyamo) openly admitted that the data in question was in the first respondent’s server when he wrote and submitted a petition to the IGP and the Director of the Department of State Services asking the security agencies to investigate the second petitioner (the PDP) for allegedly hacking into the server of the first respondent (INEC) and obtaining the data in question.
“Specifically, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN) claimed in the petition that it was the first petitioner (Atiku) who smuggled the data into the server. The petitioners (Atiku and the PDP) hereby plead the said petition to the security agencies and the second respondent is hereby given notice to produce them at hearing.”
The PDP and Atiku said INEC’s claim that the transmission of results was purely manual was a lie.
They made references to several press statements issued by INEC insisting that there would be an electronic component of results collation.
Atiku and his party said there was nothing in the Electoral Act that barred INEC from transmitting results electronically.
They said INEC also lied when it claimed that its directive on election day was that card readers should only be used in areas where they worked.
The PDP and its presidential candidate added, “The petitioners shall at trial lead evidence to show that the first respondent (INEC) stated on several occasions before and after the elections that the use of card readers was compulsory.”
The petitioners also stated that INEC through its Chairman and Returning Officer, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, committed grave errors in the final collation of the presidential results.
The INEC boss was said to have muddled up the results, announcing the wrong figures for wrong political parties.
Atiku and his party said in the Form EC8E INEC falsely credited Rev. Chris Okotie (Presidential candidate of the Fresh Democratic Party) with a wrong political party and wrong scores and in the same vein, the INEC boss falsely credited Rev. Onwubuya Abraham (presidential candidate of Freedom and Justice Party) with a wrong political party and wrong scores.
The INEC chairman was also accused of falsely crediting Ojinika Chizee (presidential candidate of the Coalition for Change) and Abah Elaigwu (Change Advocacy Party) with the wrong scores and wrong political parties.
Meanwhile, the PDP has come to the defence of Atiku’s lead counsel, Dr Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), whom INEC claimed was not a legal practitioner and was not licensed to practise law.
In a witness statement signed by a former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, the party said Uzoukwu was called to the bar in 1982 and was even the attorney-general of Imo State from 1994 to 1996.
The Punch
World-renowned boxer Anthony Joshua on Monday survived a ghastly road accident in Makun, Ogun State.
Eyewitnesses report that the incident occurred along a busy highway of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
The vehicle carrying Joshua, a Lexus Jeep with the number plate, KRD 850 HN, reportedly collided with a stationary truck under circumstances that are still being investigated.
Joshua reportedly sustained minor injuries, while two persons were said to have died on the spot.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has cautioned that any attempt to hurriedly re‑gazette Nigeria’s new tax laws could undermine parliamentary oversight and set a dangerous constitutional precedent.
Atiku’s warning follows public scrutiny over reports that the Tax Reform Acts signed by President Bola Tinubu differ from the versions passed by the National Assembly. Lawmakers, including Abdussamad Dasuki, raised concerns that the alterations could pose serious legal and constitutional risks, noting that they were not backed by any constitutional framework.
In a statement on X, Atiku said the directive to re-gazette the Acts effectively confirms “that the gazetted version of the Tinubu Tax Act does not reflect what was duly passed by the National Assembly,” calling it “a grave constitutional issue.”
He emphasized that under Section 58 of the 1999 Constitution, a bill only becomes law after passage by both chambers, presidential assent, and gazetting.
“Gazetting is merely an administrative act of publication. It does not create, amend, or validate a law,” Atiku said, adding that any post-passage insertion, deletion, or modification without legislative approval constitutes forgery rather than a clerical error.
Atiku further warned that rushing a re-gazetting while legislative investigations are ongoing “undermines parliamentary oversight and sets a dangerous precedent,” stressing that the only lawful approach is “fresh legislative consideration, re-passage by both chambers, fresh presidential assent, and proper gazetting.”
The former vice president clarified that his position is not opposition to tax reform but a defence of constitutional order.
“This is a defence of the integrity of the legislative process and a rejection of any attempt to normalise constitutional breaches through procedural shortcuts,” he said.
The Federal government has denied wrongdoing, insisting the laws will take effect as scheduled on January 1, 2026, while the National Assembly has directed the issuance of Certified True Copies of the Acts to ensure clarity and accuracy.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, is set to formally join the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on December 31, 2025.
The development would put to rest months of speculation about where the former Governor of Anambra State would pitch his tent in the coming elections.
Reports claim that Obi would be defecting with serving senators and other lawmakers elected on the platform of the LP, as well as remnants of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the South East region.
Specifically, Obi would be defecting alongside the Senator representing Anambra Central, Victor Umeh; that of Anambra North, Tony Nwoye; Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe; PDP chieftain Ben Obi; and members of the Obidient movement in the region.
It is not clear if the Abia State governor, Alex Otti, is part of the planned movement to the ADC.
The governor was recently approached by the PDP to join the party and re-contest his current position in 2027.
Further reports quoted Obi’s spokesperson, Valentine Obienyem, as confirming the planned defection of his boss to the ADC.
“Yes, it is true,” he reportedly said on Sunday.
Senator Umeh said the event would hold in Enugu, adding that it would involve all Obi’s supporters across the South East region.
“They will come from Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi and Imo states to join those in Enugu, where this exercise will hold on 31st December,” he reportedly added.
Sources hinted that Obi, who has not hidden his intention to appear on the ballot in 2027, would contest the presidential ticket of the ADC.
On his part, Chief Chekwas Okorie, reportedly said that the expected formal defection of Obi to the ADC is a healthy development that could reshape the thinking and permutations of the 2027 general elections.
“I imagine that he would be defecting along with most of his associates and followers. I believe that a fortified and strong ADC will add value to the opposition and assuage the general fear of a possible one-party option to Nigerians come 2027. The APC, ADC and possibly the PDP locking horns in the 2027 democratic encounter promises a vibrant and robust electioneering campaign that will provide Nigerians the required options to make informed choices in electing their preferred leaders at all levels. I imagine that the APC leadership will return to the drawing table to map out the strategy to confront the emerging challenge. Nigerians are in interesting times,” Okorie stated.
National President of Njiko Igbo Forum (NIF), Rev Okechukwu Obioha, vouched support for Obi to ensure he reaches the pinnacle of his political career. He, however, cautioned that the ADC should not compromise merit and integrity in the choice of its presidential candidate, stressing that Obi remains the “hope for the restoration of the country on the path of greatness.”
