Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2019 Presidential elections Atiku Abubakar, has raised fresh alarm over moves to stop him from getting justice.
Atiku is challenging the outcome of the 2019 presidential election which was won by President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Atiku specifically
accused Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of frustrating
his effort to present his case at the Presidential Election Petition
Tribunal, The Guardian reports.
The
PDP presidential candidate who spoke through a member of his legal
team, Silas Onu at INEC’s headquarters yesterday, described the
commission’s refusal to obey court order by releasing the election
documents he candidate requested for to prove his case as unfortunate.
He
stated that failure to provide the requested documents would leave the
PDP candidate with no option than to institute a legal action against
the INEC Chairman and other officials of the commission.
A
document sighted by The Guardian showed that Atiku had written to INEC
Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood through his lead counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu,
reminding it of the Court of Appeal judgment directing it to allow the
PDP candidate inspect and obtain Certified Polling Documents in its custody.
The letter dated April 15, 2019, which was received and acknowledged at INEC same day formally
requested the commission to release Forms EC8D and EC40G to the
applicants or state in writing, reasons why it would not grant the court
order. Onu, however, told newsmen that INEC has hitherto refused to comply with any of its requests, adding that it was a ploy to frustrate Atiku’s effort at the tribunal.
According
to him, the legal team was only requesting for Form EC40G, which is a
compilation of cancellation of results and form EC8D, which is collation
of results at states level and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),
Abuja.He said the team was also asking for report of the Smart Card
Readers used in the Presidential election report, adding that all
logistic expenses has been paid to the commission.
When
contacted on Atiku’s complain, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman,
Rotimi Oyekanmi, said the commission has complied with all the orders of
the Election Tribunal in respect of PDP’s petition. “Therefore, if the PDP feels that certain provisions have not been complied with, it should channel its grievances to the right place rather than do so in the media,” he said.
The situation is really confusing as different tunes are emerging from different quarters on the same court judgment. While the PDP Presidential candidate is claiming that he has not been given the chance to inspect the election materials as the court ordered.
INEC is countering it saying that it had complied with all the order of the court.
No one knows what Atiku and his party may decide to do on the issue. This development suggests that the case may still linger until it is finally resolved.
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