Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party, and Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party, asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja for permission to look at the election materials used in Saturday’s presidential election. The court agreed.
The PUNCH previously reported that Atiku and Obi had approached the Presidential Election Court to request permission to inspect election materials used in last Saturday’s election.
According to the PUNCH, neither Atiku nor Obi accepted that they had lost the presidential election on February 25. Instead, they said they would fight in court for their right to be president.
The two candidates rejected President-elect Bola Tinubu’s conciliation gesture, in which he asked them to support him in the task of building the nation in his acceptance speech after he was declared the winner of the poll on Wednesday.
Respondents in the case included the electoral umpire, Tinubu, and the APC.
Both applications were based on Section 146 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022, Section 47 (1, 2 & 3) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act of 2022, and the Court’s inherent jurisdiction as referenced by Section 6 (6) A & B of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Obi sought six major reliefs in his application, which was filed by his legal team led by Mr Alex Ejesieme, SAN.
Adedamola Faloku, Atiku’s lawyer, asked the tribunal for seven prayers.
The applicants specifically asked the court to order INEC to release documents used in the presidential election that were in its custody.
They maintained that the requested documents would help their petition challenging Tinubu’s victory in the presidential election.
On Thursday, Atiku and Obi held separate press conferences in Abuja.
However, the court granted both candidates’ request for access to all sensitive materials INEC used for the presidential election won by All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu on Friday.
After hearing two separate ex-parte applications brought by Atiku, Obi, and their political parties, the Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led panel of the appellate court, which will also sit as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, granted the request.
