TheCable

The election tribunal has granted Garba Dahiru, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate for Bauchi south, access to sensitive materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the national assembly election.

A three-member panel, led by justice Wilfred Kpochi gave the order on Saturday following an ex-parte application filed by the candidate and his party.

Dahiru contested and lost the Bauchi south senatorial district election to Shehu Umar of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Alex Hassan, lead counsel to the applicant, had prayed the court to compel INEC to allow his client to obtain documents in the commission’s custody used for the election.

He said the documents would aid his petition against the emergence of Umar as the winner of the election.

In his ruling, Kpochi said that the application had merit and was granted accordingly.

He, therefore, ordered INEC to make available all the election materials used for the conduct of the Bauchi south senatorial district election to the applicant, his agents, and counsel.

The tribunal also granted leave to Mijinyawa Mohammed, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate, to access and inspect election materials deployed by INEC for the Bauchi north senatorial district election.

Kpochi also ruled that the application had merit and asked the electoral body to make the requested materials available to Mohammed.