Presidential Tribunal: INEC, Tinubu, APC oppose Atiku, PDP’s request to tender electoral documents

A request by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to tender important electoral documents including forms EC8A (result sheets of polling units) and EC8E of select states has been rebuffed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Bola Tinubu, the nation’s president.

Chris Uche and Eyitayo Jegede, lawyers of the petitioners’ had prayed the Presidential Elections Petitions Court (PEPC) on Wednesday to grant their requests to tender the election materials used in the February 25 polls as exhibits but were heavily resisted by INEC, Mr Tinubu and his party, APC.

INEC said the commission could only give the petitioners consent to tender EC8A forms in only five local governments in Kogi state, Olamaboro, Ofu, Omala, Okehi and Ajaokuta and withheld consent from the remaining 18 local governments in the state.

Application to tender certified true copies of forms EC8As in Abia, Bayelsa, Ogun and forms EC8Es in Kaduna, and Kogi states requested by Mr Abubakar met fierce objections by INEC and the other respondents.

Seeing that INEC had consented to the tendering of election materials for the aforementioned five local governments in Kogi state, APC lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, also gave his consent for PDP to use documents from the selected local governments at the tribunal but withheld consent for other states documents.

“We are objecting to all except the ones listed by INEC,” said Mr Fagbemi on behalf of the APC.

Disregarding the respondents’ objections, Haruna Tsammani, the presiding justice over the matter, admitted the electoral documents of the petitioners and okayed them to be tendered.

Wole Olanipekun represented Mr Tinubu while Kemi Pinheiro was the counsel for the electoral commission.

Mr Tinubu, the nation’s new president who took oath of office on May 29, is facing stiff opposition from PDP and Labour Party presidential candidates who insist the polls that gave him victory were deeply flawed.

They are challenging his victory at the tribunal, a legal battle that could take months to conclude.