The Court of Appeal in Abuja had granted the requests of PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar; LP’s Peter Obi; and the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC, to inspect the election materials used during the presidential poll. A report submitted to INEC by the three parties’ lawyers indicated that the LP’s team began the inspection on Monday.
Speaking on behalf of INEC’s lawyers, Tanimu Inuwa, SAN, explained that the commission had forms Ec8d (summary of results) of each state and FCT, Ec8da (national summary) and Ec8a. He added that the BVAS and backend report of over 11,000 pages were being finalized and that the result sheets and ballot papers were in the various states, not at the INEC headquarters. He suggested that a timeline for visitation for all parties is made for ease and that the persons appointed to inspect be limited.
Joe-Kyari Gadzama, SAN, representing the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said his team would also commence the inspection of election materials the following day. He noted that representatives of PDP in various states had gone to the INEC offices for inspection but were denied access because the headquarters had not given the go-ahead.
He said the PDP, in addition to the documents requested, would need the report of the offline and online logs and server from February 25 to March 1 and the phone numbers used on each BVAS.
Babatunde Ogala, SAN, representing the APC, suggested that all parties should henceforth inspect the documents together in the spirit of transparency and a joint committee of all parties should be made to come up with a schedule for the inspection.
However, LP’s Livy Uzochukwu, SAN said the LP and the PDP petitioned, while APC was responding, hence the timelines were different and the petitioners should be treated with priority.
Gadzama said the LP and the PDP had a lot in common and had more challenges than the APC. He also said that limiting the number of people allowed to inspect was not realistic because of the burden placed on the petitioners.
He demanded that a message be sent to the INEC in various states to allow inspection. The meeting agreed that the PDP and the APC could commence inspection immediately; while the LP, having started the inspection, would continue from where it left off.
The inspection of the election materials is in line with the election petitions filed by Atiku Abubakar and the LP’s Peter Obi, who is challenging the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
The LP and PDP had also raised several issues of irregularities and malpractices that occurred during the election. They had accused the APC and INEC of manipulating the results in favour of Tinubu.
The inspection of the election materials is a crucial step towards resolving disputes and determining the rightful winner of the presidential election. The process is expected to be transparent, fair, and credible, and all parties are expected to cooperate with INEC and each other to ensure a smooth and successful exercise.