|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Akanji Olowolodu, Bauchi
As legal battle for the Bauchi State governorship seat begins at the preliminary stage, the Governorship, National and State House of Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Bauchi, on Thursday, granted leave to the gubernatorial candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Amb Sadique Baba Abubakar to access sensitive materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the March 18th governorship election in the state.
Recall that Saddique Baba Abubakar contested and lost the Bauchi governorship election to the incumbent Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as declared by INEC.
A two-member panel, led by Justice F.N Azinge, gave the order in Bauchi, following an ex-parte application filed by the candidate and the party.
The APC sued Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir as the winner of the elections and his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as well as INEC, the electoral umpire that made the declaration.
Earlier, Barr Rilwan Jibrin, holding brief for Ishaq Magaji, SAN, the Lead Counsel to the applicant, prayed the Tribunal to compel INEC to allow his client to obtain documents in the Commission’s custody used for the elections .
He said that the documents would aid his petition against the emergence of PDP’s Bala Mohammed as the winner of the election.
Delivering the Tribunal ruling, FN Azinge said that the application had merit and was granted accordingly.
She, therefore, ordered INEC to make available all the election materials used for the conduct of the Bauchi governorship election to the applicant, his agents and counsel.
“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 governorship election held on the 18th March, 2023,” she said.
It could be recalled that on March 20, INEC declared Bala Mohammed of the PDP, winner of the gubernatorial election having polled a total of 525,280 votes while his closest rival, Sadique Abubakar of APC polled a total of 432,272 votes.
