The presidential election petition tribunal, sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, has granted the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, access to inspect sensitive materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the February 25, 2023, presidential election.
This follows an ex-parte application by Tinubu, who was also the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), where he asked the court to order INEC to grant him access to sensitive materials it used for the presidential election.
Court says there is merit in Tinubu’s request
The court, in a unanimous decision by a 3-member panel led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh, said it was satisfied there was merit in Tinubu’s request to have access to the electoral materials to enable him to defend his election victory.
It held that both Tinubu and his party, the APC, are entitled to have access to the materials in INEC’s possession to enable them to inspect, scan and make photocopies of them.
For catch up
- Tinubu, through his lawyer, Mr Akintola Makinde, had through his application, told the court that granting his request would help his team inspect, scan and make photocopies of some of the electoral materials to enable him to prepare his defence against petitions that would seek to nullify his election.
- The first ex-parte application by Tinubu, which was filed on March 6, has the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi as respondents, while the second application has the Peoples Democratic Party, and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as respondents, alongside INEC
- Makinde also said, “The materials will be relevant in helping us to prepare our defence and also make comparison with the information contained in INEC’s back-end server.”
