The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of denying him access to vital electoral documents to enable him to prove his case against President Bola Tinubu.
The opposition figure said this is despite paying INEC N6 million for the certification of the documents.
Atiku, who came second in the February presidential election, is challenging the victory of Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
At the resumption of proceedings on Tuesday, June 6, at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja, Atiku’s lawyer, Eyitayo Jegede, said INEC’s refusal to provide electoral documents to his legal team was frustrating their suit.
Jegede had sought to tender some results sheets from 10 out of 21 Local Government Areas of Kogi State to substantiate their case against Tinubu.
The documents used for the conduct of the February 25 presidential poll are those from – Ankpa, Dekina, Idah, Ofu, Olamaboro, Yagba East, Yagba West, Kabba-Bunu and Igalamela Odolu were sought to be tendered by Jegede on behalf of his client.
But the five-member court panel chaired by Haruna Tsammani said it was improper to tender such sensitive documents piecemeal.
Tsammani explained that the court would have difficulty marking and numbering the documents as exhibits.
In his response, Jegede blamed INEC for refusing to supply the documents wholesale to Atiku’s legal team.
He informed the court that Atiku had paid N6 million as a cost to supply true certified copies of electoral documents. Yet, the electoral umpire allegedly refuses to make the poll records available.
The lawyer disclosed that Atiku’s team was left with no option but to subpoena electoral commission officials to bring the required documents before the court.
He then sought a 24-hour adjournment to further request the necessary documents from INEC.
INEC’s lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud, a SAN, did not object to the request for an adjournment.
