The President-elect, Bola Tinubu, has been given permission to examine election materials that were used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on February 25, 2023, by the Abuja Appeal Court.
The presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress, Tinubu, urged the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday to order INEC to allow him access to sensitive materials used in the election.
Through his attorney, Mr. Akintola Makinde, Tinubu stated that in order to prepare his defense against petitions that would seek to invalidate his election, he would need to examine, scan, and make photocopies of some of the electoral materials.
While Tinubu’s first ex-parte application, which was filed on March 6, has the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi as respondents, in the second application, the Peoples Democratic Party, and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, were cited as respondents, alongside INEC.
“The materials will be relevant in helping us to prepare our defence and also make comparison with the information contained in INEC’s back-end server,” Makinde said.
But delivering judgment on Wednesday, a three-member panel of the court, in four rulings on Wednesday granted the reliefs sought by Tinubu and APC in the fourth motion ex-parte, except prayers 5 and 6 in the motion filed by Tinubu.
