By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
After initial refusal to allow for public scrutiny of the election materials, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday made a U-turn by allowing the legal team of the Labour Party which stormed the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja to inspect the February 25 presidential election materials.
Following its dissatisfaction with the outcome of the just concluded presidential election, the Labour Party flagbearer Peter Obi went to Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) to challenge the process that led to the declaration of the President-elect by INEC.
However, the legal team of Labour Party’s attempts to have access to the election materials used by INEC to conduct the election proved abortive as the litigants headed to the Federal High Court in Abuja to obtain an order to compel the electoral umpire to grant Labour Party unfettered access to inspect the election materials used by INEC.
Prompt News reports that the access was on Monday granted after the Labour Party legal team comprising 60 lawyers led by Dr. Levy Uzoukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) met with the INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu and senior officials of the Commission in his office.
The meeting with INEC officials is aimed at commencing the process of inspection of electoral materials used for the February 25 presidential election.
Speaking at the meeting between Labour Party’s lawyers and INEC, Yakubu explained to his guests the processes of obtaining the election materials they are seeking for.
According to him: “We received a letter from Uzoukwu (SAN) on behalf of the Labour Party.
The letter is dated March 6, in the letter we were served notice that the team will be here on the seventh at nine in the morning to inspect the materials but most specifically, the letter requested us to get in touch with our resident electoral commissioners across the 37 states of the Federation to make the documents and information available for the prosecution of their petition.
“A meeting has been scheduled with all the Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) is going to be a virtual meeting at 3pm, today, which we will discuss among other issues, this matter of providing CTCs not only to the Labour Party, but to all other litigants as well.
“I want to assure you that the Commission will not hide any document from anybody and will make available any document that they have requested.
There are two categories of documents those that are in possession of the headquarters of INEC, we will easily make these documents available to you.
“Specifically the EC8Ds from the states and the ECD A, which is the collation at the national collection centre by the commission itself.
The EC8E, the declaration, so many, a total of, I think 39 documents, this we can easily certify and give you almost immediately.
“As for other documents that we are asking for they are at state level, so we need to work out the schedule so that we know when your team is going to which state and on which date so that we can easily facilitate not just certification of documents, but also the inspection that you requested for each of these documents.
“The other one is accreditation data from the back end. This will also be made available to you. Remember that the accreditation data covers over 176,000 polling units. We have to print them physically certify them, and give them to you ,so the tall and short of what I’m saying is that you will get this document speedily.
“They will also make arrangements and notify our resident electoral Commissioner of your intended visit so that these documents will be made available to you those that are at the level, including access to inspection of any category of materials.
“So I crave your indulgence to suggest that let your team interface with the legal team of the commission immediately. So you work these things out and then we make all the documents available to you.
“But please be assured, the lead counsel that INEC has nothing to hide. Whatever you’re asking for will be made available to you.
So I want to thank you for coming. Now the meeting will be between our technical people and you will just work things out. So that whatever we need to facilitate as a commission so that you get this document that you require as a matter of urgency, I want to assure you that you will get them as a matter of urgency.
“So thank you so much. Whatever, let me reassure you again, whatever you require for the prosecution, we will make this information available”.
In his reply Labour Party’s Lead Counsel, Dr. Uzoukwu, said: “We are here because we have not received any electoral stocks for inspection on behalf of our clients, and as you all know, election petition is time sensitive. We have 21 days to file a petition on behalf of our clients.
“Out of that 21 days we probably have about 10 days to go and up till now we have not received any documents.
We have written to INEC requesting for a documents apart from that. The Court of Appeal made an order on the March 3, to INEC to release those documents to us but we haven’t received any hence we requested for a meeting with the chairman of the commission.
“He graciously granted that audience within a very short notice, and he has given us assurance, concrete assurance on record that all documents we require will be made available and if possible, some of them will be made available to us today.
“So we believe that that will happen and we are leaving here rest assured that by the time we leave INEC premises at least we will leave with some documents, the rest can then come from tomorrow and so on and so forth.
“We are very much bothered and I made that point when we met with the chairman that not only that our clients are bothered and agitated but also we members of the legal council are bothered, members of Labour Party are bothered, their supporters are bothered and restive.
“In fact, it has taken a lot to calm them down to exercise patience that we are going to get the documents because the court of the land has ordered the documents to be given to us.
“Well, some documents will come from the state level but we do not think it will take eternity for those documents to come. Meanwhile, there are those that are domiciled here at the headquarters. Those ones we can go away with today.
Asked what if all the needed documents are not made available by INEC, Dr. Uzoukwu said: “That will be a national calamity. Why do I say that? Not making the documents available will create the impression that INEC is deliberately frustrating us. That’s just the impression it will create to make sure that we cannot prosecute this petition. But listening to the chairman a short while ago and all assurances, I want to give him or we want to give him the benefit of the doubt that we will get some of them today.
“At least if we get some of them today that is indicative that we’ll get some other documents from tomorrow, next tomorrow to enable us file this petition. Having said that, the way and manner, the chairman spoke, I’m confident that he will keep to his words”.
Also speaking at after the meeting,
Tanko Yunusa, Obi-Datti Chief Spokesman said..
“Remember we made a press conference citing that we will not fail to mobilise our members to come out to march on the streets of INEC and offices of INEC nationwide. And graciously the chairman of INEC haven read that particular statement has granted this opportunity to come into his office and liaise with him and he has assured the team of lawyers that they are going to present this documents.
“So we want to wait and see the responses of our legal team. It is the legal team that will give us the marching order. When they are satisfied with what they’ve received from INEC so that our members nationwide and worldwide will be satisfied that we are doing our job and they are ready to prosecute this case accordingly.
