Presidential Tribunal: PDP Protests INEC’s Refusal to Release Election Materials

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned that the refusal
of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to obey the
order of the Election Tribunal to release election materials used
for the conduct of the February 23, Presidential election could
plunge the nation into a monumental crisis.

The main opposition party said that the refusal of INEC to
release forms EC8D, EC40G and the reports of the card readers was
therefore a deliberate and vicious disobedience to the orders of
the court for which the management of INEC should be charged for
contempt.

The party in a statement Monday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that INEC, by its action,
was blatantly standing in the way of justice and working against
the will of the people in their quest to salvage the nation and
reclaim their stolen mandate at the tribunal.

According to him, “The continued refusal of INEC to release the
electoral materials to the PDP and our legal team is completely
provocative and shows that the commission is working in cahoots
with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Buhari Presidency
to frustrate the PDP, our candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and majority
of Nigerians from retrieving our mandate at the tribunal.”

Ologbondiyan added that the party had been reliably informed of
how the APC and some compromised top officials of INEC had been
boasting that they would never allow these materials and documents
to be released to the PDP legal team.

He stressed, “INEC and the APC are apprehensive that the
materials, particularly the forms EC8D and EC40G covering the
nation in addition to the report of the Smart Card Readers used in
the presidential election will show at the tribunal that the PDP
and Atiku Abubakar clearly won the presidential election.”

“This is the reason the APC and INEC manufactured a groundless
claim that the form EC8D, EC40G and the reports of the card readers
were not specifically captured in the order of the court whereas
the court was unequivocal in its order that all materials used for
the election be made available to our legal team.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Court of Appeal, among other
orders, directed INEC to release and allow our legal team to
“inspect, scan, forensically audit and make copies of forms EC4OA,
EC8A, EC8AVP, EC8B, EC8C, EC8E and all other electoral forms and
materials including, but not limited to ballot papers and voters
registers and materials used for the conduct of the presidential
election, held across Nigeria on the 23rd of February, 2019, for
the purpose of instituting and maintaining an election
petition.”

The party said Nigerians should note that INEC, “having rigged
the election in favour of APC” was now seeking ways to frustrate
its petition at the tribunal.

It therefore called on the electoral umpire to end its
shenanigan and release these documents without further delay.