Court grants President-elect leave to inspect election materials

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, has granted leave to President-elect Bola Tinubu to access sensitive materials used by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of the 2023 presidential election.

The three-member panel led by justice Joseph Ikyegh granted Tinubu’s prayers one to four but refused five to six.

Ikyegh held that there is substance in the prayers to enable them to grant the prayers.

Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had declared Tinubu winner of the Feb. 25 presidential election after securing majority of votes cast at the poll.

Besides, Tinubu met the constitutional benchmark of scoring 25 per cent in two thirds of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory according to INEC.

The Court of Appeal on Friday, March 3 granted leave to Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party, to inspect documents used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of the Feb. 25 Presidential election.

Abubakar and Obi had alleged that substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 in addition to violence and rigging marred the conduct and outcome of the election.

They therefore, approached the court for a leave of the court to inspect the sensitive materials used for conducting the election.

On Tuesday, Tinubu through his lawyer, Mr Akintola Makinde approached the court seeking for leave of the court to allow them inspect and obtain election materials for his defence.