The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not allowed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the last presidential election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, to inspect election materials two weeks after the Presidential Election Tribunal gave the order because it is yet to get a copy of the court order.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, the spokesman to the Commission’s chairman Mahmoud Yakubu, made this known.
He said: “It is common knowledge that since the declaration of the results of the presidential election, the commission has been busy with the multiple activities associated with the national assembly, governorship, state houses of assembly and federal capital territory elections
“Only last Thursday, the commission presented certificates of return to senators-elect and house of representatives members-elect, including PDP members.
“Nevertheless, the commission will comply when the due process is followed”.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had raised an alarm through its own spokesman, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, of the alleged infraction of the commission.
He stated that the Atiku Abubakar legal team, after the court ruling wrote Yakubu on the court order, but it was still a no-show.
He noted that despite being served with the order and several follow-ups, the leadership of INEC refused to grant the PDP and Atiku Abubakar access to the materials and documents, even though it was urgent.
It stated that the action by the leadership of INEC has shown that it was allegedly “heavily compromised” to rig the February 23, 2019 presidential election and frustrate the quest by Nigerians to reclaim the “mandate from President Muhammadu Buhari and save the nation from the crisis of an illegitimate government”.
The statement reads further: “The leadership of INEC and the APC are seeking to frustrate our court option, seeing that the documents and materials will expressly show that Atiku Abubakar clearly won the election by the votes directly delivered at the polling units across the country as well as expose how the commission and the Buhari Presidency manipulated the results for President Buhari.
“The PDP cautions the INEC to note that Nigerians are now aware of its manipulative tendencies and that any further delay in granting access to the materials might attract public odium.
“INEC should, therefore, end its unpatriotic partisan shenanigans with the APC and immediately obey the Court of Appeal and grant the PDP and Atiku Abubakar access to the documents and materials and free itself from unholy entanglement with the APC against Nigerians.”