The Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja on Saturday dismissed a request by the Labour Party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi to interrogate ICT experts of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the conduct of the February presidential election.
Mr Obi had sought to interrogate INEC’s ICT officials concerning Internet use during the 25 February presidential election.
Mr Obi and his party are, in their joint petition, challenging the emergence of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the poll.
He alleged manipulation of the electoral process by INEC in favour of Mr Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
But Mr Obi’s application to interrogate the electoral umpire’s ICT experts was vehemently opposed by lawyers to INEC, Mr Tinubu and the APC at the court’s hearing on 8 June.
Ruling
Ruling on the issue on Saturday, the five-member court panel headed by Haruna Tsammani said Mr Obi’s legal team failed to file their request to interrogate INEC’s ICT officials within the statutory period enshrined in the Electoral Act 2022.
“In an election petition, a party who wishes to file further particulars in court, and in this case file interrogatories, may file at any time but not later than ten days after filing the reply to the respondent’s response.
“If he fails to apply within the period laid down, he shall be barred from so applying,” Mr Tsammani said while referencing the electoral law,” the court rule.
In the unanimous ruling of the five-member panel, the court said, “The petitioners (Mr Obi and LP) filed their reply to the respondents (Mr Tinubu, INEC and APC)’s reply to the petition on 21 April 2023.”
Mr Tsammani noted that Mr Obi’s request seeking leave to serve the interrogatories on INEC was filed on 23 May 2023.
“Therefore, it (request) was filed out of the statutory time as stated in the First Schedule of the Electoral Act 2022,” Mr Tsammani said.
He said the “law unequivocally prohibits party from making an application for further particulars after the period laid down has elapsed.”
The court further emphasised that the time for filing any court document in an election petition is “sacrosanct.”
“This court cannot extend the time to file the interrogatories…the petitioners’ counsel did not ask for an extension of time but rather seek to employ the right to fair hearing as the magic wand to escape the consequences of their failure to comply with the law and blame the court for their action,” Mr Tsammani explained.
In dismissing the request, the court said, “The application is incompetent, and the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain it. Accordingly, it is struck out.”
Background
At the application hearing on Thursday, Mr Obi’s lawyer, Patrick Ikwueto, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), sought to know the quality of the ICT experts and professionals who presided over the 25 February presidential poll.
Mr Ikwueto had urged the court to order INEC to supply him with the names and other details of its ICT professionals that deployed electronic devices for the election.
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He raised 12 questions to be forwarded to INEC.
Mr Ikwueto had hoped that if the court granted their request, it would enable them to ask relevant questions and elicit responses that would aid their suit.
The inability of the electoral umpire to electronically transmit results of the presidential election from polling units in real-time to its IReV portal is a major contention at the court.
But, INEC’s lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro, a SAN, opposed Mr Obi’s application to subject electoral officials to interrogation.
Mr Pinheiro argued that the requests were incompetent.
He contended that Mr Obi’s requests should have come during the court’s pre-hearing session.
The court had held its pre-hearing sessions for two weeks when it streamlined the procedures for the trial of the substantive petition.
Mr Pinheiro contended that the court lacked the jurisdiction to grant Mr Obi’s applications.
Mr Tinubu’s lawyer, Akin Olujimi, and his APC counterpart, Lateef Fagbemi, both SANs, aligned with INEC in opposing Mr Obi’s requests.
The lawyers argued that the application was incompetent and urged the court to discountenance it.
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