Court grants Bauchi PDP permission to inspect election materials

Olaide Ayinde

The Governorship, National and State House of Assembly Election Tribunal, sitting in Bauchi, on Saturday, granted leave to Garba Dahiru of the PDP, to access sensitive materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the Feb. 25 NASS election in the state.

Dahiru contested and lost the Bauchi South Senatorial District election to Shehu Umar of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as declared by INEC.

A three-member panel, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, gave the order in Bauchi, following an ex-parte application filed by the candidate and his party.

Those involved in the matter are Shehu Umar and his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as well as INEC.

Earlier, the Lead Counsel to the applicant, Alex Hassan, had prayed to the court to compel INEC to allow his client to obtain documents in the Commission’s custody used for the election.

He said the documents would aid his petition against the emergence of APC’s Umar as winner of the election.

In his ruling, Kpochi said that the application had merit and was granted accordingly.

He, therefore, ordered INEC to make available all the election materials used for the conduct of the Bauchi South Senatorial District election to the applicant, his agents and counsel.