The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, granted approval for the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, to inspect electoral materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the just concluded election.
Tinubu through his lawyer, Akintola Makinde, requested to inspect, scan and make photocopies of some of the electoral materials to enable him to prepare his defence against petitions that would seek to nullify his election.
Makinde stated: “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”.
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 (PDP), and its own candidate, Atiku Abubakar, were cited as respondents, alongside INEC.
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The presidential candidates of the PDP and LP had both claimed victory in the presidential election held on February 25, 2023.
The court, in a unanimous decision on Wednesday said it was satisfied there was merit in Tinubu’s request to have access to the electoral materials to enable him to defend his election victory.
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Also, the three-member panel led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh, held that both Tinubu and his party, were entitled to having access to the materials in INEC’s possession to enable them to inspect, scan and make photocopies of them.
