The
People’s Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has filed
for access to all INEC materials used to conduct the presidential election
before the tribunal.
Atiku
and PDP filed the ex-Parte application before the Presidential election
petition tribunal seated at the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
The
motion filed by the PDP candidate and the party seeks to get permission to the
database of the smartcard readers and all the election materials for audit.
The
PDP presidential candidate in the February 23 election, lost to the incumbent
President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
After
the result of the presidential election was announced, Atiku called the
election a sham and rejected the result and said he will challenge it in court.
Atiku
decried the militarization of the electoral process, the ‘statistical
impossibility’ of states ravaged by the war on terror generating much higher
voter turnouts than peaceful states, and the suppressed votes in PDP
strongholds.
According
to the Independent National Electoral Commission, the former vice president
lost the election with more than a three million vote margin.
Atiku
claimed he would have called the victor within seconds of his being aware of
his opponent’s victory if he had lost in a free and fair election.
The
spokesperson of the APC presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo, said the
Atiku has a right to head to court and that the APC is anxious to meet Atiku in
court.
“Our
official position is that we believe that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has a
constitutional right to seek redress in court and we do not seek in any way to
curtail that right.
“In
fact, it is the resort to court that is the only democratic way to ventilate
his perceived grievance and any attempt to restrict or discourage the exercise
of such right would be an invitation to anarchy,” he said.
“In
addition, we are very anxious to meet Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in court in order
to show the world in a conclusive manner the free and fair nature of the
comprehensive defeat of Atiku at the polls. An election is not termed ‘rigged’
only by the mere claim of it by the loser. That is what Atiku and the PDP want
to ram down our throats.”
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