The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday tendered the documents required by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
The tribunal had on Wednesday subpoenaed the INEC boss, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Zamfara State to appear with the documents relating to the February 23, 2019 poll. But Yakubu did not appear before the tribunal yesterday.
The order followed an allegation by Chief Chris Uche (SAN), the counsel to the petitioners, the PDP and Atiku, that the respondents were frustrating the matter.
Consequently, the petitioners filed two applications on July 9, seeking an order of the court to compel the INEC chairman to physically appear before the tribunal and present certain documents listed by them, and the Zamfara REC to produce the presidential election results for the state.
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While the appearance order was served on Yakubu on July 15, that of the Zamfara REC was served on him on July 12. Uche specifically told the tribunal that the petitioners had written to both the INEC boss and the Zamfara REC to appear with the required documents but to no avail.
In its ruling, the tribunal ordered Yakubu and Zamfara REC to appear before it unfailingly on Thursday, July 18 (yesterday).
At the resumed hearing yesterday, expectations were high as many people waited to hear the INEC boss give testimony in court.
Since the appearance was scheduled for 12 noon, the tribunal began with the hearing of the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM). And when the court stood down the matter for ruling on a motion at about 11:45 a.m. many still anticipated that the tribunal was preparing the ground to receive the INEC boss, but surprisingly, it embarked on a break to reconvene by 1:00 p.m.
But before members of the panel took their bows, Uche drew the court’s attention to the directive made on Wednesday regarding the subpoena order on INEC boss.