6th September, 2011
President Goodluck Jonathan and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, scored a major point against the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, in their quest to retain the victory they secured at the Presidential election held last April.
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Tuesday agreed with President Jonathan, his party and the Independent National Election Commission, INEC, when it held that the order it granted to CPC to access electoral materials used by the electoral body at the conduct of the election did not mean that the party should have a copy of biometric data of Nigerians who voted during that election.
At the last sitting of the Tribunal last Monday, the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, had applied for the court to give effect to the order granted to it to access election materials in custody of the electoral body.
The party, through its lawyer, Mr. Oladipo Kposeyi, a senior advocate of Nigeria, told the Tribunal that it attempted to access the database of voters collated through the massive deployment of the Direct Data Capturing Machines across the nation as part of the preparation for the last general election, but was refused the opportunity to scan all the contents of the database.
The party subsequently urged the Tribunal to enter judgment in its favour in view of the frustrating antics of the electoral body.
President Jonathan, the PDP and INEC opposed the application on the ground that the request by CPC to have an electronic copy of the biometric data of Nigerians breaches the constitutional provision which makes the electoral umpire the sole custodian of such material and that granting such a request has a high risk implication and a threat to national security.
At the ruling, the Tribunal headed by Justice Lawal Garba Muhammed, held that the order it made granting access to CPC over electoral materials does not mean that the party should have an electronic copy of biometric data of voters as stored in INEC’s database.
According to the Tribunal, access does not mean having possession of a copy of the biometric data. “Access cannot mean taking copies of such information, it is to see, not to collect” the tribunal said.
It consequently resolved the issue in favour of the President, his party and the electoral umpire.
On the second leg of CPC’s application which sought for judgment to be entered in its favour, the Tribunal stated that it can not enter judgment in a matter as this without taking evidence and hearing the substantive matter. It thereafter dismissed the application.
The Tribunal also fixed tomorrow, Wednesday, 7th September to give a report on the pre hearing session before fixing a date for proper legal fireworks to commence in the case where General Muhammadu Buhari’s Party, CPC, is seeking to snatch the victory secured by President Jonathan from the Tribunal having been defeated at the polls.
By Nnamdi Felix / Abuja