The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, blamed the Independent National Electoral Commission, NEC, for clogging the wheel of progress in the prosecution of his petition.
On Wednesday Atiku told the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, in Abuja that in spite of paying N6.69 million to the commission for certified true copies of documents he intends to tender in evidence, the commission failed to make the documents available.
Speaking through his lawyer, Mr Chris Uche, SAN, the petitioner said it was discouraging for the commission to say that some of the documents they paid for were outside Abuja.
“We thought all these documents will be made available to us and we won’t have to go to the States to collect them.”
Uche then proceeded to tender certified true copies of documents for 10 out of 21 local government areas of Kogi which were the only documents the commission had made available for the day.
The petitioners also tendered form EC8D for Anambra state.
It was reported that Atiku Abubakar asked the PEPC to declare him Nigeria’s president-elect or alternatively, cancel the election and order a fresh election due to alleged irregularities that marred the Feb. 25 poll in thousands of polling units.
These are part of the seven prayers anchored on five grounds in the petition he filed against the victory of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC.