- Discloses plans to summon top INEC officials
From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of denying them access to vital electoral documents needed to effectively prosecute their petition challenging the February 25 election won by president Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The petitioners told the Justice Haruna Tsammani led five-member Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that after paying a whopping N6 million to INEC for certified true copies of those vital documents, the commission has deliberately refused to provide them.
A senior counsel in the legal team to the petitioners, Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, who conducted Tuesday’s proceedings made the allegation after unsuccessful efforts to tender result sheets contained in INEC Forms EC8As from 10 out of 21 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kogi State to establish the petition against the outcome of the disputed election.
The exhibited result sheets which the petitioners had sought to tender in evidence are those from Ankpa, Dekina, Idah, Ofu, Olamaboro, Yagba East, Yagba West, Kabba-Bunu, Igalamela- Odolu.
Although, the petitioners had filed their schedule of documents along with the exhibits, the Court however noted that tendering such sensitive exhibits at piece meals would not be tidy enough especially in the areas of marking and numbering them.
Responding to the observation by the court, Jegede blamed the INEC for deliberately refusing to supply his clients with the vital documents.
The lawyer who disclosed that the petitioners had paid as much as N6m for the supply of cerified true copy of the exhibits, lamented that the INEC had not been forthcoming and cooperating as required and envisaged.
He disclosed that going forward, his clients intend to subpoena some top officials of the commission to supply the required documents as a last resort.
Consequently, Jegede sought for a 24- hour adjournment to enable him approach the commission to do the needful.
His request for an adjournment was not opposed to by counsel to the respondents represented by-Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, (INEC); Wole Olanipekun, SAN, (Tinubu) and Lateef Fagbemi for APC respectively.
Consequently Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani adjourned the matter till June 7.
The former vice president who came second in the February 25 presidential election is challenging the outcome of the election alongside his political party on account of alleged irregularities, manipulation of the results among others.
So far, the PDP has tendered as evidence, the 2023 Presidential Election Results, INEC Forms EC8A (which is the summary of presidential election results) and Form EC8E series for the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, INEC certified documents in respect of number of PVCs collected for 2023 presidential election and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS machine-printed report for the 36 states, including FCT.
Other documents tendered are additional Forms EC8A as downloaded by INEC (for 17 local government of Abia state and INEC authentication certificate), Forms EC8As for Bayelsa, Kaduna, Ogun states, certified true copies of Forms EC8Es from Kaduna and Kogi State.
These documents have been objected to by the Independent National Electoral Commission, Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and the All Progressives Congress.
In spsite of the objections, the documents were all admitted as exhibits by the court in line with the PEPC directive that no Certified INEC materials shall be objected to at the point of tendering from the bar