Appeal Court Grants Peter Obi, LP Leave To Inspect Electoral Materials, BVAS Machines
The Presidential Election Petition Court sitting at the Court of Appeal Abuja on Friday granted leave to Mr Peter Obi and Labour Party to allow them inspect all the Electoral Materials used in the conduct of the Election for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Court also granted leave to Obi and Labour Party to do electronic scanning of all the BVAS machines used in the conduct of the Election.
The panel had His Lordships, Joseph Shagbaor Ikyegh presiding with Hon Justices Haruna Simon Tsammani and James Gambo Abundaga as members
MR. Peter Obi and. Labour Party are the applicants while the Independent NationalElectoral Commission (INEC), Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu and the . All Progressives Congress(APC) were the respondents.
In a motion ex parte dated and filed on March 2, the applicants urged the court to grant orders including for the leave to the applicants to bring this application outside or before the Pre-Hearing Session.
“An order granting leave to the
Applicants to argue this Application outside or before the Pre-Hearing Session.
“An order directing INEC to
allow the Applicants to inspect all the
electoral materials used in the conduct of the election for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on the 25th day of February, 2023.
“An order granting the Applicants permission to do electronic scanning and/or make photocopies of Voter’s Registration, Ballot Papers used in the conduct of the election for the office of the President Feb. 25 2023.
“An Order granting leave to the
Applicants to carry out Digital Forensic Inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct on Feb. 25 2023 election for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“An order restraining the 1st Respondent from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection is conducted and Certified True
Copies of them issued.
The Court said it had read the motion paper, the
affidavit in support
and heard Chief Alex Ejesieme SAN the lead counsel to the applicants and that the application had merit and granted the application.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of INEC and Chief Returning Officer who announced the presidential result on March 1 said Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to emerge president-elect.
Yakubu said Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party was second with 6,984,520 votes while Peter Obi of the Labour Party came third with 6,101,533 votes.
Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP came fourth with 1,496,687 votes.
Obi and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Ahmed had in separate interviews rejected the result as announced by INEC chairman insisting they won the contest.
The Labour Party Candidate said he would explore every legal means to challenge what he called rascality and reclaim his mandate.
