An application made by Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president-elect, seeking access to sensitive materials used by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) for the presidential election, has been granted by the court of appeal.
Through his lawyer, Akintola Makinde, Tinubu explained that he needed to inspect, scan, and photocopy some of the electoral materials to prepare his defense against petitions that might seek to nullify his election.
Makinde stated that the materials would be relevant in assisting them to prepare their defense and make a comparison with the information contained in INEC’s back-end server.
At the court session on Wednesday, a three-member panel of the court, led by Joseph Ikyegh, granted the applicant’s permission to inspect INEC materials and make photocopies of them.
Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the winner of the February 25 poll with 8,794,726 votes, ahead of Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who received 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), who secured 6,101,533 votes.
Atiku and Obi have both approached the court to challenge the results of the election and have requested permission to inspect sensitive materials used by INEC in the conduct of the election.