The Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja has abruptly postponed the hearing of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar‘s petition against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The adjournment, announced on Tuesday, came as a result of the alleged failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide certain essential electoral materials.
The court has pushed the hearing to June 7, anticipating that INEC will have furnished Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the requested documents by that time.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, Eyitayo Jegede, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) representing Atiku, attempted to present forms EC8A from 10 out of 21 Local Government Areas of Kogi State as evidence against Tinubu.
These forms, used in the February 25 Presidential Election, came from several areas including Ankpa, Dekina, and Idah.
However, the court found that presenting these significant exhibits piecemeal would not be beneficial, particularly in terms of marking and numbering them.
Jegede accused INEC of deliberately refusing to provide his client with crucial documents.
He told the court that Atiku had paid as much as N6 million for certified true copies of the exhibits but the electoral body had been uncooperative.
The legal team even resorted to subpoenaing INEC officials to bring the required documents to court.
Eventually, Jegede requested a 24-hour adjournment to address the issue with INEC. With no objections from the respondents’ counsel, the court, led by Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, adjourned the matter till June 7.
