Atiku vs Buhari: Supreme Court takes decision on PDP’s INEC server claim
The Supreme Court has suspended proceedings to rule on the controversial INEC server.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar had approached the apex court seeking permission to be allowed access to a supposed server.
Atiku and PDP are insisting that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC used a central server where the results of the 2019 general elections were transmitted.
Recall that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) had on June 24, 2019, dismissed an application by Atiku and the PDP requesting permission to have access to the said central server.
It is the June 24 decision of the Tribunal that Atiku and the PDP appealed at the Supreme Court.
The Justice Datijo Mohammed-led panel of the Supreme Court, after taking arguments from Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, (for the appellants); Yunus Usman, SAN, (for INEC); Wole Olanipekun, SAN, (for President Muhammadu Buhari) and Charles Edosomwan, SAN, (for the All Progressives Congress), rose briefly to consider the arguments and return for its decision.
The Tribunal, at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, had, while dismissing the application by Atiku and the PDP, held that INEC had denied the existence of the said server and insisted that results of the election were not electronically transmitted into any server as claimed by the petitioners, adding that granting the application of PDP and Atiku would amount to deciding the central issue in the petition at the interlocutory stage.
The court’s Presiding Justice, Mohammed Garba, who read the ruling, added that granting the application would imply that the court had “indeed recognised and found out that there is a central server into which results of the held on February 23, 2019, were electronically transmitted by the 1st respondent (INEC).”
The Supreme Court, Tuesday struck out an interlocutory appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar.
But this development came after the appeal was withdrawn by Mr Abubakar’s counsel.
In his lead judgment, Justice Musa Muhammad held that the case was statute-barred, therefore, dismissed.
“This appeal is hereby dismissed having been withdrawn by the counsel to the appellant and without any objection from the respondents”.
In his words, Eyitayo Jegede, who represented Mr Abubakar, told the court that the appeal was statute-barred, the time for having expired.
However, the PDP and Abubakar are challenging the alleged failure of the electoral body, INEC, to allow them access to the central server allegedly used for the February 23 presidential poll.
The petitioners also approached the apex court to challenge the proceeding of June 11, at the tribunal where the PDP said APC ambushed it by secretly withdrawing a motion and replacing same with another not responded to.
It would be recalled that Justice Garba Mohammed, chairman of the tribunal, had in a unanimous decision on July 3, dismissed a prayer by the applicants to reopen arguments on the APC application that sought dismissal of the petition.
Garba held that the petitioners failed to adduce cogent reasons why such request should be granted, having failed to file a counter affidavit against issues raised earlier.
The tribunal had on June 11 ruled that the petitioners failed to file counter affidavit against APC’s motion seeking dismissal of the petition on accounts of unsubstantiated allegations of noncompliance and malpractices.
The tribunal had held that its record showed that the petitioners were duly served with APC’s motion on May 16 which gave them seven days to file their counter-affidavit.
