The Peoples Democratic Party has accused the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission of disobeying the March 6, 2019 ruling of the Appeal Court, which directed it to allow the party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to inspect the documents and materials used in the February 23, 2019 presidential election.

It described the action of the commission as a deliberate and wicked ploy to frustrate the plan by the party and Atiku to file their petition at the presidential election tribunal, and by so doing, ambush the case.

The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement in Abuja on Saturday, said,

“Despite being served with the order and several follow-ups, the leadership of INEC has refused to grant the PDP and Atiku Abubakar access to the materials and documents, notwithstanding the urgency of the matter.”

We always obey court orders  — Commission

The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, reacting to the PDP allegation, said, “The Independent National Electoral Commission has a good record of obeying court orders. If and when the commission receives the orders of the court, it will comply.

“However, it is common knowledge that since the declaration of the results of the presidential election, the commission has been very busy with the multiple activities regarding the National Assembly, governorship, state Houses of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory elections. Only last Thursday, the commission presented Certificates of Return to senators-elect and House of Representatives members-electors including PDP members.”

Credit: The Punch