Tribunal blocks PDP request for forensic exams of Kano election materials

The election petition tribunal sitting in Kano has denied an
application by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to scan copies of
electoral materials in the governorship election in the state.

In her ruling on the application on Tuesday, Justice Halima
Shamaki said section 151 subsection 5 of the Electoral Act does not
permit the court to authorise forensic examination of
materials.

Mrs Shamaki, however, granted the PDP permission to access
photocopies of the needed election materials in line with the same
section of the Electoral Act.

She urged all parties involved to draw out the modality and time
limit for the inspection of the materials.

The counsel to PDP, Maliki Kuliya-Umar, had on Monday filed a
motion on notice requesting more time to access, do forensics and
scan copies of the electoral materials.

But the led counsel to the All Progressive Congress (APC), Aliyu
Umar, insisted the tribunal lacks the power to grant PDP’s
application.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had also
opposed the application. It said photocopies of electoral materials
are in the public domain and could be obtained with or without
court process.

PDP had obtained orders from the tribunal to access the
materials with all parties observing the process.

The opposition party also requested an extension of the orders
after exhausting 20 days.

The tribunal on April 9 had granted PDP an ex-parte order to
inspect all the electoral materials used by INEC. But the party
said it was only able to inspect the materials for 15 out of the 44
local government areas of the state.

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