The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday changed its earlier position by informing a Federal High Court in Abuja that the April 2011 general elections were manually conducted.
INEC had, at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and other election petitions nationwide, insisted that the April 2011 elections were electronically carried out as alleged by a litigant, Bedding Holding Limited.
The plaintiff, Bedding Holding, had sued INEC and its chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, the Attorney General of the Federation, Haier Electrical Appliances Corporation Limited and Zinox Technologies Limited through its counsel, John Okoriko, alleging that its patent rights with respect to the supply of DDC machines and other components had been infringed upon.
While entering into defence, INEC told the court that it did not make use of the Optical Card Reader Machine (OCRM) and the General Packing Radio Service (GPRS) as the process used for the compilation of the voter register was the same for the 2007 elections.
A legal officer with the Commission, Alhassan el Umar, who appeared as evidence in chief, said the 5th defendants (Zinox) had in 2007 supplied 1,500 DDC machines for the purpose of compiling the voter register for the 2007 national elections.
The witness who was led in evidence by counsel to INEC, Aminu Mainasara further debunked? claims by the plaintiff that its patent right was infringed upon by the defendants in the suit.