The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday, March 3, 2023, granted the request of Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, request to inspect the election materials used during last Saturday’s presidential poll.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that Atiku and Obi approached to Presidential Election Court to seek permission for the inspection of election materials used during last Saturday’s poll.
The PUNCH also reports that Atiku and Obi refused to concede defeat in the February 25 presidential election, vowing to recover their mandate in court.
The two candidates rebuffed the gesture of conciliation made by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, who in his acceptance speech after he was declared the winner of the poll on Wednesday, asked them to support him in the task of building the nation.
Atiku and Obi spoke at separate news conferences in Abuja on Thursday.
But the court on Friday granted both candidates’ request to have access to all the sensitive materials INEC deployed for the presidential election won by All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
The Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led panel of the appellate court, which will also sit as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, granted the request after it heard two separate ex-parte applications brought by Atiku, Obi, and their political parties.
The electoral umpire, Tinubu, and APC were cited as Respondents in the matter.
Both applications were predicated on Section146 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022, Paragraph 47 (1, 2 &3) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act of 2022, as well as under the inherent jurisdiction of the Court as referenced by Section 6 (6) A & B of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Obi, in his application that was moved by his team of lawyers led by Mr Alex Ejesieme, SAN, sought six principal reliefs.
Atiku’s lawyer, Adedamola Faloku, sought seven prayers from the tribunal.
Specifically, the applicants urged the court to compel INEC to allow them to obtain documents in its custody that were used for the presidential election.
They maintained that the requested documents would aid their petition against the outcome of the presidential contest that was declared in favour of Tinubu.
‘We Won The February 25 Election And We Will Prove It To Nigerians’ – Peter Obi Breaks Silence
Dear Nigerians,
On 25th February 2023, Nigerians trooped out en-masse to participate in what was promised and expected to be a free, fair. and transparent Presidential and National Assembly elections. But in all things, we are enjoined to give thanks.
First to Almighty God for the privilege of making Datti Baba-Ahmed and me, the tools to champion the cause of a New Nigeria that will fundamentally enhance the fortunes of our dear country. Let me also appreciate and thank all Nigerians that participated in our last election especially those who believed and tirelessly worked for a New Nigeria and voted for us. My profound thanks go to the youths, ‘Obidients’ and support groups for your commitment and resilience for a better Nigeria. You truly showed that you can take back your country!
We continue to pray for the repose of the souls of all Nigerians killed during the campaigns and for those that were violently attacked, we pray for their quick recovery. We reiterate our total condemnation of such attacks and continue to demand that security agencies stop further attacks and bring perpetrators to book.
The commitment and resilience of Nigerians, even in the face of unwarranted and barbaric attacks is a testimony that a New Nigeria is Indeed POssible. The Lady, Jennifer Efidi who was stabbed but insisted on exercising her right to vote, and indeed all Nigerians who voted during the election are the shinning stars leading us to a New Nigeria!
The election has been conducted and results announced as programmed. It is a clear deviation from the electoral rules and guidelines as we were promised and did not meet the minimum criteria of a free, transparent, credible, and fair election devoid of voter intimidation and suppression, and late commencement of voting in some specific states.
This will probably go down as one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria. The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have again been robbed by the institutions and leaders whom we trusted.
However, let me humbly and most respectfully appeal to all Nigerians to remain peaceful, law-abiding and conduct themselves in a most responsible manner. Please be assured that for Datti and I, and indeed for all of us, this is not the end, but the beginning of the journey to birth a New Nigeria.
Datti Baba-Ahmed and I remain absolutely undaunted and deeply committed to this project of a New Nigeria that will be built on honesty, transparency, fairness, justice, and equity. All of these starts with the process -The process through which people are elected to office is as important (if not more important) than what they do thereafter with the office and authority.
If we seek to be called Your Excellency, then the process through which we are elected should also be excellent or sufficiently credible to generate the required confidence and moral authority to govern and lead. As you all know, the destruction of a society can be a gradual or sudden process through acts such as deliberate refusal to obey the rule of law and via the suppression of the will of the people.
Let me reiterate and assure my good people of Nigeria that we will follow all available legal and peaceful procedures to reclaim our mandate.
I urge you all to continue with your campaigns and troop out on Saturday 11th March 2023 to vote massively again for Labour Party-LP (Mama, Papa, and Pikin) in the Governorship and State Assembly Elections. Please do not despair at a time when we can still achieve massive victories in the forthcoming elections on the 11th March 2023.
Thank you all and God bless The Federal Republic of Nigeria.
