Seven days after the announcement of the presidential election, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have filed a motion compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to surrender materials used for the February 23 election for inspection.
The motion ex-parte was lodged before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on Tuesday.
The Tribunal will conduct its proceedings at the Court of Appeal Headquarters in Abuja.
In the motion ex-parte dated March 4, Atiku and the PDP, applied for leave of the tribunal to allow them to inspect the Voters Register, the Smart Card Readers Machines, Ballot Papers and other vital documents that were used in the conduct of the presidential election.
They equally prayed the tribunal to compel the electoral body to allow their agents to scan and make photocopies of vital documents used in the conduct of the election, for the purpose of establishing alleged irregularities.
The Applicants, through their lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, told the tribunal that the reliefs sought against INEC was for the purpose of filing and maintaining an election petition they intend to lodge against the outcome of the 2019 Presidential Election.
The motion ex-parte motion was supported with a 12 paragraphed affidavit that was deposed to by one Col. Austin Akobundu, rtd, the director of Contact and Mobilization of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council.
Meantime, no date has yet been fixed for hearing of the motion which has INEC, President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, as 1st to 3rd Respondents.
Atiku who came second behind President Buhari of the APC, had earlier vowed to challenge the outcome of the presidential election in court, alleging that it was fraught with manifest irregularities.
He maintained that results collated by agents at various polling units across the federation, was at variance with what was eventually declared by INEC, in favour of President Buhari.
Meanwhile, the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court Tuesday okayed hearing on a suit seeking to invalidate the election victory of President Muhammadu Buhari over allegation that he violated section 91(2) of the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed ordered substituted service of the suit on Buhari, through the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/191/2019, was lodged before the court by the candidate of the National Rescue Movement, NRM, in the February 23 presidential election, Usman Ibrahim Alhaji.
Specifically, the Plaintiff, alleged that contrary to provisions of the Electoral Act, President Buhari, expended more than one billion naira during his campaign for re-election.
He asked the court to also invalidate the participation of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, alleging that he was equally in breach of clear provisions of the electoral law.
Cited as defendants in the suit were Buhari, the APC, Atiku, PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The plaintiff is among other reliefs, seeking for, “A declaration that the 1st and 3rd Defendants (Buhari and Atiku), have brazenly and flagrantly violated the provisions of section 91(2) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), having exceeded the maximum legally allowable N1billion election expenditure for presidential candidates, taking into cognizance, the excessive, profligate and continuous extravagant presidential campaign of the 1st and 3rd Defendants since their emergence as presidential candidates of their respective political parties.
“A declaration that the 1st defendant’s unauthorized use of state resources brand-named ‘TRADERMONI’, with which the 1st Defendant through his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has employed to tacitly induce electorates in exchange for their votes, amount to fraud covered within section 124(1)(a) (b) (c) and section 130 of the Electoral Act.
“A declaration that branded items such as bags of fertilizers, bags of rice, distributed to electorates at campaign rallies by the 1st and 3rd Defendants, amount to inducement of electorates in exchange for their votes, amount to fraud covered within section 124(1)(a) (b) (c) and section 130 of the Electoral Act”.
As well as “An order of this honourable court directing the 5th Defendant (INEC) to expunge the names of the 2nd and 4th Defendants (APC and PDP) from the presidential ballot papers so as to rescue Nigeria’s democracy from money bags, the influence of money, also to prevent the undue use of money, and to preserve the peoples’ sovereignty as enshrined in section 14(2)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
Before the matter was adjourned till March 26 for hearing, Justice Mohammed had directed that all the relevant processes should be served on both Buhari and Atiku, through the legal departments of their respective political parties.
The order for substituted service was made after counsel to the plaintiff, Mr. Ezekiel Ofou, told the court that his client found it extremely difficult to serve the court papers on either Buhari or Atiku, due to retinue of security aides around them.
Ofou, therefore, moved an ex-parte order for leave to reach the two defendants through their parties, a request that was granted by the court.
