Appeal court grants Atiku leave to inspect presidential election materials

ABUJA, Nigeria – The Appeal Court, which is the Presidential Election Tribunal today granted Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar leave to inspect materials used for the February 23 presidential election.

The 3-man panel granted Atiku Abubakar access to all materials used in the elections after the panel heard the ex-parte motion filed by Atiku Abubakar, seeking relief to inspect the materials.

Justice Abdul Aboki, head of the 3-man panel however refused prayers 3 to 5 which sort for scanning and forensic audit, stating that a forensic audit does not fall under the terms envisaged by section 151 (1 &2) of the Electoral Act as amended in 2010.

Secton 151 of the Electoral Act permits the court to grant:

(1) An order for an inspection of a polling document or an inspection documents of a document or any other packet in the custody of the Chief National Electoral Commissioner or any other officer of the Commission may be made by the election tribunal or the court if it is satisfied that the inspection is required for the purpose of instituting, maintaining or defending an election petition.

(2) A document other than a document referred to in subsection (I) of this section relating to an election and which is retained by the Chief National Electoral Commissioner or any other officer of the Commission in accordance with this section shall be open for inspection on an order made by the Election Tribunal or a Court in exercise of its powers to compel the production of documents in legal proceedings, but shall not otherwise be open for inspection.

In granting the relief, Mr Aboki noted that the applicant’s lawyer, Chris Uche, had rightly based his argument on a previous decision of Election Petition Tribunal, but observed that the decision which permits applicants to inspect, to scan for forensic analysis has been overruled by “this court because it confers unfair advantage on the applicant.