The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to allow the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP and its candidate, Ahmed Ahmed Tijjani, to inspect election materials used for the conduct of the Federal Capital Territory senatorial election.
Tijjani and his party dragged INEC, Senator Ireti Kingibe and the Labour Party before the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election.
INEC declared Senator Kingibe as the winner of the election and returned her as the senator-elect of the FCT.
Shortly after the result of the election was announced, the NNPP’s candidate alleged that the logo of his party was missing in some polling units in the FCT.
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He also alleged that his party’s agents were denied INEC tags and called for the cancellation of the election.
The chairman of the tribunal, Justice Pius Idiong, in the order dated March 15, 2023, directed the electoral umpire to allow counsel or agent of the NNPP’s candidate to conduct a manual or physical inspection of the electoral materials.
In the petition, the party and its candidate said they were aggrieved and dissatisfied with the return of Senator Kingibe, the Labour Party candidate as the winner of the election.
According to them, the documents sought to be inspected, copied, photocopied, scanned and Certified True Copies obtained are materials used by INEC during the conduct of the Federal Capital Territory Senatorial District Abuja election held on 25th February 2023.
The party said it needed these materials used in the conduct of the election to effectively prosecute and/or maintain its petition before the tribunal.
