The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to allow the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP Atiku Abubakar access to inspect electoral materials used in the presidential election.
Chairman of the tribunal Justice Abdul Aboki led two other justices to give the ruling in Abuja.
Aboki, however, turned down the applicants’ prayer for access to scan and conduct forensic audit on all the electoral materials, including technology used in the conduct of the election.
The Judge held that scanning and forensic examination of electoral materials by experts was not permissible, adding that those steps were not captured in Section 151 of the Electoral Act, 2010.
Aboki also explained that the result of forensic analysis was not admissible as evidence in court, adding that granting such a prayer would amount to wasting of time. He said the applicants should base the substance of their petition on official materials only obtained from the electoral body.
