The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will be providing all the documents requested by the Labour Party to prosecute its case over the February 25 presidential election at the election petition tribunal.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu gave this assurance on Monday when he received the Legal Team of the Labour Party at the INEC Headquarters in Abuja. According to the electoral body, the team was at the INEC HQ to discuss modalities for obtaining the documents.
Disclosing this via a tweet, the Commission said its Chairman told the team that INEC was already working on how to bring all documents from the state level to Abuja to fast-track the process of providing access.
Nothing to hide: While assuring the team that all documents would be provided, the INEC Chairman said:
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- “INEC has nothing to hide. Documents available at the HQ will be given immediately. We are meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners today and we will discuss how other documents at the state level could also be made available to you speedily.”
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu today assured the Labour Party’s Legal Team that the Commission will provide all the documents it requested for to prosecute its case.
He said: “INEC has nothing to hide. Documents available at the HQ will be given immediately. We are pic.twitter.com/KpclUtyprQ
— INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) March 13, 2023
The INEC last month declared Bola Tinubu, candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the presidential election held on February 25. Obi resorted to challenging the result in court, alleging irregularities by the electoral commission.
Consequently, the court of appeal granted leave to Obi to have access to all the sensitive materials used by INEC for the election. But, On Saturday, LP accused INEC of not allowing Obi’s lawyers access to the materials despite the court ruling.
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Why I’m in court: Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has said he is in court to challenge the process leading to the declaration of Bola Tinubu as the president-elect. Speaking in a chat with Arise TV on Monday, Obi said he is not interested in challenging the “outcome” of the election.
- “INEC is a public institution and it should be open. Because if you do something and people are not satisfied then you should be able to open up yourself.
- “INEC has conducted an election and announced the winner but I am only asking that I have access to the materials that were used to arrive at the result. I am not asking you to change what you said.
- “I’m not challenging their declaration. Or rather, I am not challenging who they declared. I am not challenging whatever the outcome is. I’m challenging the process by which they arrived at their declaration.
- “And unless we do that, we are not going to stop the rascality we witnessed in that election. The process through which people come into the office is far more fundamental than what they do thereafter,” Obi said.
