Court of Appeal Grants Access to Election Materials to Obi and Abubakar

On Friday, the Court of Appeal in Abuja granted permission to Peter Obi, presidential candidate for the Labour Party, and Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to view sensitive materials used by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) during the February 25 presidential election.

The appellate court, which will act as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, also directed INEC to give both candidates access to the election documents.

Justice Joseph Ikyegh led the panel of the appellate court that made the orders after hearing two separate ex-parte applications filed by the two aggrieved presidential candidates and their political parties.

INEC, the acclaimed winner of the presidential election, Bola Tinubu, as well as his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), were cited as respondents in the matter.

The applications were based on Section 146 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022, Paragraph 47 (1, 2 & 3) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act of 2022, and the inherent jurisdiction of the Court as referenced by Section 6 (6) A & B of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

Obi’s application, which was led by his team of lawyers led by Mr Alex Ejesieme, SAN, sought six principal reliefs from the tribunal. He specifically requested the court to order INEC to provide the records in its possession and used for the presidential election. Obi stated that the requested papers would support their case challenging the APC candidate, Tinubu, as the winner of the presidential election.

INEC declared Tinubu of the APC as the winner of the presidential poll, ahead of 17 other candidates that contested the election. According to INEC, Tinubu scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku, who polled a total of 6,984,520 votes and Obi of the LP, who came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes.

The decision of the Court of Appeal has been seen as a positive step in the quest for transparency and accountability in the electoral process.

The right of candidates to access sensitive election materials is an essential aspect of a credible electoral process.

By granting Obi and Abubakar’s request, the Court of Appeal has demonstrated its commitment to upholding the rule of law and ensuring a level playing field for all candidates.

The legal battle over the presidential election results is far from over, and the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal will undoubtedly have far-reaching implications for the political landscape of Nigeria.

In a tweet, Obi said he is not backing down or going anywhere. He said he will stay, fight and prove that he won the election.