THE Governorship, National and State House of Assembly Election Tribunal in Bauchi granted Garba Dahiru of the Peoples Democratic Party permission to access sensitive materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission in the state’s February 25 NASS poll.
According to INEC, Dahiru ran for and lost the Bauchi South Senatorial District election to Shehu Umar of the All Progressives Congress.
A three-member panel chaired by Judge Wilfred Kpochi issued the order in Bauchi, following an ex-parte application submitted by the candidate and his party,
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, those involved in the incident are Shehu Umar and his party, the People’s Democratic Party, as well as INEC.
Earlier, the applicant’s lead counsel, Alex Hassan, asked the court to order INEC to provide his client access to election-related materials held by the commission.
He stated that the records will help his petition against the election of APC’s Umar as the winner.
Kpochi stated in his judgement that the application had merit and was granted accordingly.
As a result, he directed INEC to make all election materials utilized in the Bauchi south senatorial district election available to the applicant, his agents, and lawyers.
“The petitioners are to take certified copies and conduct manual and physical inspection of all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the Bauchi South Senatorial District election held on February 25, 2023,” he said
Meanwhile, the tribunal allowed the New Nigeria Peoples Party candidate, Mijinyawa Mohammed, permission to examine INEC electoral materials for the Bauchi North senatorial district poll.
The petitioner via his counsel, Yaldami Gambo, stated that the order would allow him and his party to inspect all election materials used by the electoral umpire in preparing their petition.
INEC is also named as a respondent in the case.
Judge Wilfred Kpochi while granting the order stated that the application has merit.
As a result, he allowed the petitioner and his counsel permission to visit INEC and obtain certified copies of the election materials used on February 25 in the Bauchi North senatorial district election.
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