Presidential tribunal: Atiku, PDP subpoena INEC boss, others

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, have informed the Presidential Election Petition Court of their subpoena applications for the chairman and two other members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Counsel to the PDP, Chris Uche (SAN), informed the court on Tuesday that they had subpoenaed Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, the Secretary, Mrs Rose Oriaran-Anthony, and a commissioner to appear before the court and tender documents.

Uche said that having earlier applied for the documents, the PDP would move the subpoena on Thursday to enable them appear in person since the commission had objected to most of the documents tendered.

PDP also tendered electoral documents through their two witnesses: the National Situation Room Coordinator, Dr Alex Adum Ter, and the state collation agent, Captain Olatunji Shelle, during the proceeding.

Appointment of I-G, prerogative of President — PSC

Appointment of I-G, prerogative of President — PSC

The PDP’s documents admitted by the court include manual and INEC guidelines for the 2023 general elections, the printouts of IREV results from 9,403 polling units and their certificates of authentication.

Uche told the court that the exhibits showed that despite the commitment made by INEC about real time transmission of results, only the 9,403 polling units results out of the 176,000 polling units nationwide were uploaded on the IREV as of March 1.

Tribunal replays Atiku, PDP video

The court also admitted and played back three videos of INEC Chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu; the INEC Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye; and the leader of the EU Observer Mission in Nigeria, Barry Andrews; all speaking before and after the election.

In the video, both Yakubu and Okoye were shown reassuring the voters that there would be no going back on the use of BVAS for accreditation and real time upload of results during the elections.

In the third video, Mr Andrews was seen detailing the challenges in the elections, which he said affected its transparency and public confidence.

Under cross examination by INEC counsel, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), PDP’s witness, Ter, admitted that he was not an ICT expert and that he did not directly witness infractions that he mentioned in his deposition.

Obi, LP tender 188 materials

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, tendered 188 election materials challenging the February 25, presidential election.

LP’s lawyers, Peter Afuba (SAN) and Audu Anuga (SAN), took turns to tender the reports from Niger, Osun, Edo, Sokoto, Adamawa, Ogun, Ekiti and Rivers states.

The panel adjourned the matter to tomorrow.

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