Buhari, APC, INEC Ask Tribunal To Reject Atiku, PDP’s Request To Access Server

President Muhammadu Buhari, his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have asked the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) to reject the request by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be allowed access to INEC’s server and card reader machines.

Buhari argued that granting the request would amount to the tribunal overruling itself, having earlier, in a ruling delivered on March 6, 2019 rejected a similar request made by Atiku and the PDP.

The APC contended that the request amounted to asking the court to make an order in vein since INEC claimed the information sought by Atiku and his party do not exist.

INEC equally urged the tribunal to reject the request as contained in an application by Atiku and the PDP, because “we do not have what they said they want.”

Buhari, the APC and INEC made their positions known at the resumed sitting of the PEPT on Thursday.
Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the PDP in the last election, filed a petition before the tribunal, seeking among others the nullification of the election won by Buhari of the APC.

The application, in which the petitioners are praying the tribunal for access to INEC’s server, was one of the nine applications heard at yesterday’s pre-hearing session of the PEPT.

Moving the application, lawyer to Atiku and the PDP, Chris Uche (SAN), prayed the court to grant the application filed on May 8, 2019.

Uche said the application seeks four reliefs, principal among which was “for access or court’s supervised access to the INEC’s server and the smart card readers used for the conduct of the 2019 presidential election.”

Responding, INEC’s lawyer, Yunus Usman (SAN) prayed the tribunal to dismiss the application and drew its attention to the March 6, 2019 ex-ruling in which the tribunal rejected similar request by the petitioners.

“We also attached an enrolled order made on March 6, 2019 by this court. The order refused all the prayers of the petitioners as contained in this application.

“They say we should bring something that we don’t have and we have said what they want do not exist,” Usman said.

Lawyer to Buhari, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) argued in similar vein and urged the tribunal to dismiss the application.

Olanipekun exhibited a copy of the motion ex-parte filed on March 4 by the petitioners, in which they prayed for similar reliefs; and a copy of the enrolled order of the court made on March 6, 2019, extracted from the tribunal’s ruling on the ex-parte motion.

“We urge this court to dismiss this application and not to overrule yourself, as being sought in this application,” Olanipekun said.
Fagbemi said “in praying the court to dismiss the application, we equally urge the court to be wary of making an order that cannot be enforced.

“INEC has said they do not have these materials. More so, no proof is supplied by the applicants that the materials exist.

“Beyond the newspapers report supplied, they did not provide any concrete evidence to prove the existence of the materials they seek to be granted access,” Fagbemi said.

After listening to the lawyers, tribunal’s chairman, Justice Mohammed Garba said the date for ruling would be communicated to them.

Earlier, another lawyer in the legal team of Atiku and PDP, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) moved an application in which he prayed the court to strike out the 3rd respondent’s reply to the petitioners’ petition, a request Fagbemi (as lawyer to the APC) objected to and urged the tribunal to dismiss it.

The tribunal adjourned further pre-hearing session in respect of the petition by Atiku and the PDP to June 24, 2019.

Before hearing the two applications by the petitioners, the tribunal heard seven filed in relation to the petition by the Hope Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Ambrose Owuru, challenging the outcome of the last presidential election.

One of the application was filed by the petitioners, through their lawyer, Mr. Oliver Eya, sought an amendment of their petition.

While Olanipekun and Fagbemi did not oppose the application, Usman, (representing INEC) urged the court to reject it.

The tribunal also heard the three applications filed by INEC, one by Buhari and two by the APC.
The applications by the three respondents sought the dismissal or striking out of either the petition or the petitioners reply to a respondent’s reply, on various grounds.

The tribunal equally reserved rulings on all the applications and promised to inform lawyers when the ruling would be read.

It adjourned further pre-hearing session on the petition to June 20, 2019.