Atiku Tells Court: I’ve Paid Over N6m, Yet INEC Ignored My Requests

June 6, 2023

2 minute read

Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of obstructing the smooth presentation of the case filed to challenge the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

The former Vice President lamented that despite paying N6 million for the certification of exhibits he intended to present as evidence before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting in Abuja, the electoral umpire has refused to make the evidence available to him.

Speaking through Eyitayo Jegede, his counsel on Tuesday, the PDP presidential candidate persuaded Justice Haruna Tsammani-led’s five-member panel to defer further hearing on the petition he filed to nullify Tinubu’s election, till Wednesday.

According to Jegede, SAN, had at the resumed proceedings on the petition, sought to tender in evidence before the court, the results of the election from 10 out of 21 Local Government Areas, LGAs, in Kogi State.

Atiku’s lawyer told the court that though his client applied for electoral materials from all the LGAs in the state, however, he was only furnished with results from Ankpa, Dekina, Idah, Ofu, Olamaboro, Yagba East, Yagba West, Kabba-Bunu, Igalamela-Odolu and Kogi.

He drew the attention of the court to the fact that all the requested documents were earlier listed in the schedule of documents that Atiku and the PDP said they would rely upon to prove their joint petition against the declaration of President Tinubu of the APC as the winner of the presidential election that held on February 25.

Even though the petitioners sought to tender the exhibits available to them from Kogi state, pending the release of other documents by INEC, however, the Justice Tsammani-led panel stressed that the records of the court would not be tardy if such sensitive exhibits were admitted in evidence in piecemeal.

While requesting for an adjournment, counsel for the former Vice President told the panel that his client had subpoenaed top INEC officials to compel them to produce some of the requested electoral documents before the court.

He said the request for an adjournment was to enable his team to re-approach the Commission to urge it to do the needful.

Meanwhile, none of the respondents in the matter opposed the application for the matter to be adjourned till Wednesday.