Court Of Appeal Refuses Atiku's Request To Access INEC's Server

The Presidential Election Tribunal on Monday rejected the request by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, and his party to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to allow them access to the server used for this year’s presidential election.

In a ruling on the application, the five-member panel unanimously refused the request, saying the request could not be granted because issues had been joined by parties over the existence or otherwise of the server.

The judges said it was impossible for the tribunal to delve into the server issue at the interlocutory stage of the panel’s sittings..

The PDP and Alhaji Abubakar, through their lawyers, led by Levy Uzoukwu, asked the tribunal to compel INEC to grant them access to the server and smart card readers used in the conduct of the election.

But the counsel representing INEC, Yunus Usman, in a counter affidavit asked the court to dismiss the application.

“They are asking us to bring something we do not have,” Mr Usman said.

He further called the attention of the tribunal to its judgment of March 6 granting PDP access to inspect only election materials without the server.

The PDP and Abubakar are challenging the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.