INEC: Peter Obi, LP is not willing to pay fees for exhibits certification

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has accused the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, and the opposition party of being unwilling to pay the required fees for the certification of the election documents they requested for the purpose of prosecuting their petition before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. These fees were required for the certification of the election documents they requested in order to bring their petition before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

According to the leading attorney for INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), the head of the legal team for the Labour Party, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), allegedly wrote in a letter that his clients were not prepared to pay the N1.5 million that was requested for the certification of the documents in relation to Sokoto State. This information was obtained from the letter.

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that the remaining candidates’ refusal to pay the necessary fees was the cause of the delay in the release of the remaining election documents relating to the presidential election in the states of Sokoto and Rivers.

During the resumed hearing of the petition that had been filed by Obi and LP, Mahmoud stated to the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that his client, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was willing and ready to release the documents that were requested as soon as the required fees were paid.

In addition to this, he asserted that the team representing the Labour Party had abandoned a meeting that had been arranged by the parties to organize the documents that would be submitted as exhibits in the legal proceeding.
Earlier, Uzoukwu told the court that INEC was making it difficult for his clients to gain access to the election documents that were necessary as exhibits in order to argue their case in front of the court.
He claimed that he attempted to resolve the matter by writing five letters, going to the INEC headquarters, and even meeting with the INEC Chairman; however, none of these efforts were successful. He pleaded with the judge to order INEC to provide the petitioners with access to all of the relevant documents, including Form EC8A.
Additionally, he refuted the assertion made by the INEC lawyer that the petitioners’ team had abruptly left the meeting.

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Lawyers to the President-elect and Vice President-elect, Woke Olanipekun (SAN) and Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) noted that it was obvious from Mahmoud’s account that the delay in the release of the remaining documents was because of the petitioners’ failure to pay the required fees. They based this observation on the fact that Mahmoud stated that the petitioners had not paid the required fees.

A subsequent pre-hearing session regarding the petition has been postponed until Friday by the court.