Round One:  Buhari Floors Atiku as Tribunal Rejects  Forensic Analysis of Election Materials

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, on Wednesday rejected request by Atiku Abubakar and the  People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to be allowed to conduct forensic scanning and analysis of materials used for the February 23 presidential election.

The tribunal said such request was beyond the scope of the provisions of Section 151(1) & (2) of the Electoral Act (as amended).

In a unanimous ruling on an ex-parte application by Atiku and PDP, a three-man panel of the tribunal, granted them the permission to inspect the materials and obtain Certified True Copies, CTC, of the materials.

However, in the lead ruling read by the leader or the panel, Justice Abdul Aboki, said the request by Atiku and PDP to call experts to engage in forensic anylysis and scanning of the INEC materials was outside the scope of the meaning of inspection under Section 151 of the Electoral Act.

Recall that the lawyer of Atiku and PDP, Chris Uche, SAN, had told the tribunal that the motion dated March 4, was brought pursuant to section 6(6) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended and section 151 of the Electoral Act, sought for six reliefs, among which included an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to surrender all the sensitive materials that were used for the presidential poll, for forensic scrutiny.

Among items, he said his client wants to be inspected by forensic experts, include over 80million ballot papers that were used for the election, which he said would be subjected to thumbprint analysis.

Other items the motion is asking the electoral body to release to the intending petitioners for scrutiny are the Voters Register, the Smart Card Reader Machines, as well as information stored in INEC’s back-up server.

He said the first prayer in the motion paper was for leave of the tribunal permitting Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to file the action before the pre-hearing session of the tribunal, as prescribed by the Electoral Act.

The Applicants (Atiku and PDP) urged the tribunal to direct INEC to allow their agents to scan and make photocopies of vital documents used in the conduct of the election, for the purpose of establishing manifest irregularities they said led to President Muhammadu Buhari’s emergence as the winner of the presidential election.

They maintained that the six reliefs sought against INEC were for the purpose of filing and maintaining an election petition they intend to lodge against the outcome of the 2019 Presidential Election.

Chief Uche, SAN, said his clients decided to approach the tribunal with the motion, in view of the fact that the Electoral Act stipulated that filing of the petition must not exceed 21 days after the election result was announced.