…Rejects request for scanning, forensic examination
The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday
granted the request by Peoples Democratic Party and its
presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to be allowed to inspect
the electoral materials used by the Independent National Electoral
Commission for the conduct of the February 23 poll.
But the three-man panel led by Justice Abdul Aboki unanimously
rejected other prayers by the applicants seeking orders permitting
them to, among others, photocopy and scan the electoral
documents.
The tribunal also refused their requests to be allowed to
conduct a forensic examination and forensic analysis of the
materials and have access to card reader data and information
contained in the cloud and electronic storage used for the
poll.
Delivering the lead ruling, Justice Aboki said by virtue of the
provision of section 151 of the Electoral Act on which the
applicants’ motion ex parte was anchored, they were only entitled
to inspection of the electoral materials and the certified true
copies of all the materials used for the poll.
The two other members of the panel, Justices Peter Ige and
Emmanuel Agim, agreed with the lead ruling.
Earlier, the three-man panel, in a pre-hearing session of the
tribunal had on Wednesday, entertained the applicants’ argument for
about 45 minutes and rose.
It promised to return in one hour’s time to deliver its ruling
but did not return until about three hours after.
The applicants’ legal team was led by Mr. Livy Ozoukwu (SAN),
but Chief Chris Uche (SAN), made submissions on behalf of the
team.
As expected in an ex parte hearing, the respondents – President
Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress and the Independent
National Electoral Commission – were absent and not represented by
their lawyers.
Uche said during the Wednesday’s hearing that the ex parte
motion contained six prayers, one of which sought the tribunal’s
leave to bring the motion up in the tribunal pre-hearing
session.
He added, “Prayers 2 to 6 are in summary seeking orders of this
honourable court to allow the inspection and production of election
documents used by the Independent Electoral Commission for the
conduct of the presidential election to enable the applicants to
institute and maintain an election petition.”
But during the proceedings, members of the panel expressed
reservations about whether the tribunal could grant some prayers
contained in the application for orders allowing them to scan and
photocopy electoral materials as well as allow them to conduct
forensic examination and forensic audit of the materials.
Responding, Uche insisted that there were authorities of the
Court of Appeal which had interpreted section 155 of the Electoral
Act to mean that petitioners could be granted all the prayers
sought in the ex parte application.
Read more tribunal-grants-atiku-pdp-access-to-electoral-materials/
2019 Elections: NAF Deploys ISR Aircraft for
Intelligence Gathering
NAF Air Officers at meeting with CAS
In line with the directives of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS),
General Abayomi Olonisakin, to all Services on the need to ensure
peaceful conduct of the forthcoming Gubernatorial and States’ House
of Assembly elections, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air
Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has directed Air Officers Commanding
(AOCs) and field commanders to ensure safety of lives and
properties in their various locations.
This is in addition to the deployment of NAF aircraft, including
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, to
various flash points in support of the Nigeria Police and other
security agencies for the peaceful conduct of the elections.
The CAS stated this during his operational briefing to Principal
Staff Officers (PSOs) and AOCs held today, 6 March 2019, at the
Headquarters, NAF Abuja. The meeting also afforded the AOCs the
opportunity to give updates on the level of preparedness and the
security arrangements put in place for the conduct of the elections
in their various areas of responsibilities (AORs).
During the meeting, Air Marshal Abubakar noted that contingency
plans have been emplaced in case of any break down of law and order
while NAF Hospitals and medical centres have been put on alert to
assist in attending to any medical emergencies. The CAS emphasized
that the responsibility of Commanders is to ensure security of
lives and property of Nigerians. He noted that no excuse would be
tolerated for any failure in this regard.
He also reminded AOCs that they must ensure that all NAF
personnel remain professional in the discharge of their duties
whilst ensuring that no individual or group of individuals is
allowed to undermine the electoral process.
He stressed that NAF personnel must endeavour to operate in
accordance with the Code of Conduct promulgated by Defence
Headquarters (DHQ) for members of the Armed Forces during
elections. They must sternly resist any entreaties by unscrupulous
politicians to get involved in partisan politics. Air Marshal
Abubakar therefore urged all eligible voters to come out en-masse
to vote for the candidates of their choice.
The CAS also noted that, as part of its constitutional role of
providing aid to civil authority, the NAF assisted the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) in successfully airlifting a
total of 633,790 Kg of electoral materials to 31 different
locations across the country from 12 February to 3 March 2019. He
highlighted that 8 NAF aircraft were employed in the airlift
operation, flying a total of about 340 hours in 257 sorties with
about 120 crew members involved, comprising pilots, technicians and
other specialties operating on an almost round the clock basis.
IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force