Rejection of PDP’s server inspection request: Triumph of justice over propaganda – Presidency; No, Obi says INEC is like referee rejecting VAR in football match
The Nigerian presidency has said that a desperate attempt by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to overreach judicial process was overwhelmingly rejected by the unanimous decision of the Presidential Election Tribunal that refused the opposition party’s request to inspect the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC ‘s server, stressing that a long standing principle of law has once again been re-enacted.
A statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), said that “an attempt to cause the determination of an issue that constitutes the fulcrum of contention between the parties, at an interlocutory stage, has again been rejected by the Tribunal.
“What this means is that Justice and fair hearing through due contest by the parties of a major issue for determination remains sacrosanct and remains considerable by the tribunal upon according parties just and fair hearing and not the other way round.”
The election petitions tribunal unanimously rejected the PDP’s request to inspect a server which existence is being disputed.
However, the Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP in the February 23, 2019 Presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi, reacting to the tribunal’s ruling, described the Commission’s behavior as unfortunate.
Obi, who was in court, while reacting to a question from Judicial Correspondents, said he has always respected the ruling of courts even where they were not favorable, but finds it shocking that in this day and age INEC which is supposed to be an independent umpire of an election will argue against subjecting itself to scrutiny when ordinary referees in football matches subject themselves to Video Assisted Referee VAR and even go further to visit it to enable them make more informed decisions.
He noted that with the development, it would be extremely difficult for INEC to convince any discerning mind that it set out to conduct a free and fair poll when it takes strange positions that clearly show otherwise to critical members of the public.
Obi also said that the situation is particularly more worrisome when such is coming at a time most of the international bodies that monitored the election are giving it low marks.
Malam Garba’s statement, however, stressed that “the existence of a purported server is being contested and if a purported inspection had been allowed at this stage, it would have amounted to the determination that it indeed existed even when its existence is being contested.
“The electoral law prescribes manual transmission of results only and this was what the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did, in obedience to the law as witnessed by real electoral observers.
“YIAGA Africa deployed 3906 real individuals to run a parallel tabulation which returned the same results the INEC announced.
“Last week, the final reports of the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute (IRI/NDI) electoral observer mission made clear that the results of the election reflected the votes cast.
“President Muhammadu Buhari won with a majority of four million votes and because only real votes matter, INEC announced him as the winner of the 2019 presidential election,” he noted.
