*As Atiku finally files motion against Buhari
Applies for leave of tribunal to inspect vital documents
*Pray Tribunal to allow his agents scan, photocopy documents
At last, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday filed a motion to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to surrender all the materials that were used for the February 23 presidential election for inspection.
The motion ex-parte was lodged before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal yesterday.
The Tribunal will conduct its proceedings at the Court of Appeal Headquarters in Abuja.
In the motion ex-parte dated March 4, Atiku and the PDP applied for leave of the tribunal to allow them to inspect the Voters Register, the Smart Card Reader Machines, Ballot Papers and other vital documents that were used in the conduct of the presidential election.
They equally prayed the tribunal to compel the electoral body to allow their agents to scan and make photocopies of vital documents used in the conduct of the election, for the purpose of establishing alleged irregularities.
The Applicants, through their lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, told the tribunal that the reliefs sought against INEC was for the purpose of filing and maintaining an election petition they intend to lodge against the outcome of the 2019 Presidential Election.
The motion ex-parte was supported with a 12 paragraph affidavit that was deposed to by one Col. Austin Akobundu, rtd, the Director of Contact and Mobilization of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council.
Meanwhile, no date has been fixed for hearing of the motion which has INEC, President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, as 1st to 3rd Respondents.
Atiku who came second behind President Buhari of the APC, had earlier vowed to challenge the outcome of the presidential election in court, alleging that it was fraught with manifest irregularities.
He maintained that results collated by agents at various polling units across the federation, was at variance with what was eventually declared by INEC, in favour of President Buhari.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had on Monday indicated that it would approach the court on Tuesday, March 5, to challenge the outcome of the February 23 presidential election and reclaim its mandate which, it said, was stolen by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The main opposition PDP also decried the silence of national leaders and members of the National Peace Committee over the irregularities that allegedly characterised the election.
“The decision to go to court has been finalised and agreed and the process is on. The lawyers have been assembled. We may be in court tomorrow (Tuesday). No one can stop us,” Uche Secondus, PDP national chairman, said at the Expanded PDP Caucus Meeting in Abuja on Monday.
“No matter the propaganda of APC, we will seek justice till the last drop of our blood. We believe justice will be done and God almighty will give justice,” he told party leaders.
Buhari polled 15,191,847 votes ahead of Atiku’s 11,262,978. Consequently, Mahmood Yakubu, chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), declared Buhari winner of the election.
Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the PDP, rejected the outcome of the election and pledged to challenge it in court.
Prominent Nigerians and organizations, including Olisa Agbakoba, a senior advocate of Nigeria, have advised Atiku against approaching the court but to accept the election outcome in faith. But the main opposition party and its candidate have insisted on taking the legal route.
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