Ahead of the legal fireworks over the validity or otherwise of the February 25, 2023 presidential elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has constituted a 13-man legal team to defend the mandate of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after defeating 17 other candidates by polling 8,794,726 votes.
Coming next was former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party who had 6,984,520 votes , and that of Labour Party (LP), former Anambra state Governor Peter Obi who came third in the exercise polling 6,101,533 votes, while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) placed fourth with 1,496,687 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, the duo of Atiku and Obi as well as their parties, are currently challenging the outcome of the polls at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
And in a sharp reaction, the president-elect who had earlier extended the hands of fellowship to the other candidates however said he was ready to meet his challengers in court if they chose to seek legal redress.
APC
Unveiling the party’s legal team in a statement Tuesday in Abuja, APC National Legal Adviser Ahmad El-Marzuq said the team comprised legal luminaries with vast experience in election petition matters, constitutional law, and litigation.
The party noted that the legal team consisting of 12 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and its national legal adviser would be led by Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, a lawyer renowned for handling various high-profile election matters and other landmark cases.
Other members are: Sam Ologunorisa, Rotimi Oguneso, Olabisi Soyebo, Gboyega Oyewole, Muritala Abdulrasheed, Aliyu Saiki, Tajudeen Oladoja, Pius Akubo, Oluseye Opasanya, Suraju Saida and Kazeem Adeniji.
It said: “We are confident that the legal team possesses requisite expertise and experience to ensure a successful outcome for the APC in the Presidential Election Petition matters.
“We urge members of the Party to support the team in its effort to defend the will and mandate of the people.”
The ruling party, however, called on all parties involved to conduct themselves with utmost professionalism and respect for the rule of law throughout the legal process.
…Tinubu seeks court order on election materials
In a related development, President-elect Tinubu, has urged the Court of Appeal in Abuja to order INEC to grant him access to sensitive materials it used for the presidential election.
Tinubu, through his lawyer, Mr. Akintola Makinde, said he would need to inspect, scan and make photocopies of some of the electoral materials to enable him prepare his defence against petitions that would seek to nullify his election.
While Tinubu’s first ex-parte application, filed March 6, has the LP and its presidential candidate as respondents, in the second application, the PDP and its candidate were cited as respondents, alongside INEC.
Makinde said: “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.”
The tribunal will rule on Tinubu’s application Wednesday (today).
LP, PDP kick against INEC’s BVAS prayer
Meanwhile, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal will today rule on INEC’s application that the court set aside its earlier order to allow it reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for Saturday’s governorship and State House of Assemblies’ elections.
Specifically, the Commission is seeking to vary the court order for inspection of materials used for the conduct of the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
Although the two parties, namely; LP and PDP were yet to file their respective petitions, Atiku and Obi had in separate motion exparte, sought for an order of court permitting them to inspect the materials used for the presidential election to enable them gather evidence needed in proving allegations of non-compliance and rigging of the poll.
At the sitting Tuesday, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Joseph Ikyegh, announced Wednesday for ruling after the parties in the suit adopted and argued their briefs of argument for and against the motion.
INEC had, on March 4, approached the appellate court for an order allowing it to reconfigure the BVAS used for the presidential and the National Assembly elections.
In his argument, INEC’s counsel, Mr. Inuwa Tanimu, SAN, urged the court to grant its request, saying, “the defendants have nothing to fear, since the information that would be wiped out during reconfiguration would be stored and kept safe in its server in the cloud.”
He argued further that time was not on the side of the electoral umpire, submitting that if the earlier order was not varied; it may affect the conduct of the March 11 elections.
Objection
Raising an objection, however, the duo of Chief Onyechi Ikpeazu and Chief Emeka Etiaba both Senior Advocates of Nigeria, representing Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, respectively, argued that if the order was varied, vital information needed in proving their case against the declaration would be wiped out.
According to Ikpeazu, the real figure of accredited voters can only be gotten from the BVAS, adding that if the BVAS are tampered with in the name of reconfiguration, vital information would be lost.
The lawyer therefore argued that the March 11 elections can be postponed if the situation warrants, asking the court to dismiss INEC’s application.
Ikpeazu prayed the court to grant his client’s permission to conduct a physical and digital forensic inspection of the presidential electoral materials as well as an order directing INEC to issue him a Certified True Copy (CTC) of registered voters and polling units’ results.
The request, according to him, was to ensure that evidence was preserved before being wiped out, noting that, information on the INEC server varies from day to day and that.
He said it would be when information is gotten from the BVAS that it will be possible to prove incidence of over-voting in the election.
The previous order
After listening to their respective applications last Friday, Justice Ikyegh made an order permitting Atiku and Obi to inspect “All the electoral materials used in the conduct of the election for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on February 25, 2023”.
The court also permitted them to do electronic scanning and/or make photocopies of Voter’s Registration, ballot papers used in the presidential election.
In addition, both Atiku and Obi were by the order permitted to “carry out digital forensic inspection of BVAS machines used for the conduct of the February 25 presidential election.”
Timi Frank on INEC’s prayer
Speaking on INEC’s prayer, a former APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Timi Frank, called on the Appeal Court to reject a request by the commission seeking an order of court to reconfigure the BVAS.
In a statement Tuesday in Abuja, Frank claimed the request was a ploy to tamper with evidence against the substantive order of the court barring INEC from tampering with the BIVAS and other sensitive election materials yet to be inspected by Atiku and Obi.
“I hereby urge the Appeal Court not to vary its orders nor accede to the request of INEC to reconfigure the BIVAS machines.
“The request of INEC in all its ramifications is anti-people, ungodly, preposterous, jejune and beyond imagination.
“It is a ploy by INEC to hide and bury germane evidence that would enable the various opposition parties to prove their election petition cases before the courts.
“The Appeal Court must realise that the outcome of this case would show whether it is on the side of the suffering and impoverished Nigerians or against them,” he said.
