Supreme Court Sets Date To Hear Atiku’s INEC Server Claim

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 30, fixed August 20, 2019, to hear an application filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition party and its Presidential candidate in the 2019 Presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, challenging the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal’s rejection of their request to access the INEC “central server”.

Yaahoo Journalist recalls that the PDP and its Presidential candidate had prayed the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to grant them access to inspect the central server allegedly used by INEC to transmit results during the 2019 general elections.

But the Tribunal in a unanimous decision, on Monday, June 24, ruled that the request could not be granted since the issue of whether such central server existed or not, is already a subject of controversy in the substantive petition that is challenging President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.

Reacting to the Tribunal’s ruling, a senior member of the Atiku and PDP’s legal team, Chris Uche (SAN), had told Journalists in June that: “The nation was looking forward to this ruling and it is one that is very pivotal to this matter.

“The Electoral Act itself empowers the tribunal to grant access such as this to the petitioners in order to institute and maintain a petition, and that is what we are asking for.

“Somehow, at this stage, the court has ruled. But definitely, this is a matter we want to take higher to the Supreme Court to challenge this ruling because we strongly feel that section 151 of the Electoral Act entitles us to have access to these materials,” he added.

INEC, through its lawyer, Usman Uztaz (SAN), on the other hand, had said it was satisfied with the ruling.

“These are issues to be tried during the hearing, you cannot try them in piecemeal”, INEC’s lawyer told journalists.

However, at the resumption of proceedings today, the Supreme Court adjourned hearing on the case until August 20.