The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has ordered the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, to produce some documents for which it had been issued a subpoena.
Yakubu and INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Zamfara, Dr Asmau Maikudi, had been issued the subpoena on the request of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its 2019 election presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Abubakar had lost the February 23 election to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but he and the PDP have rejected the result and contested it before the five-member tribunal.
During proceedings on Wednesday, July 17, 2019, the petitioners’ lawyer, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), alleged that INEC officials have been instructed to not release the documents even after payment of certification fees made to the commission.
The Justice Mohammed Garba-led panel ordered Yakubu and Maikudi to produce the documents by noon on Thursday, July 18.
“The INEC chairman and the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Zamfara and the legal team representing them are under binding obligation to ensure that the orders contained in the subpoena are obeyed,” he said.
