Atiku and PDP appeal to Supreme Court, insist INEC’s server contains results

The Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the February 23, election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have kept their vow to appeal the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal’s rejection of their request to access the “central server” which they alleged housed the results of the poll electronically transmitted by the Independent National Electoral Commission during the exercise.

A four-ground notice of appeal has been filed by the petitioners, urging the Supreme Court to not only set aside the June 24, 2019 decision of the tribunal, but to also grant all their prayers “contained in the motion on notice dated and filed (before the tribunal) on May 8, 2019.”   

Shortly after the tribunal delivered the said ruling on June 24, 2019, the petitioners had, through two senior members of their legal team Chief Chris Uche (SAN) and Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) vowed to challenge the tribunal’s decision at the Supreme Court.  Processes seen by our correspondent on Saturday showed that the petitioners filed their notice of appeal on June 26, 2019 two days after the tribunal’s decision was delivered.

The petitioners had, in their motion, which was dismissed by the tribunal, claimed that electronically transmitted the results of the disputed poll to the said central server.

INEC denied the claim, insisting that it never transmitted the results of the polls any server whatsoever, but that the results were collated and declared manually.

President Buhari and his All Progressives Congress, whose victory at the polls is being challenged by the petitioners at the tribunal, also opposed the petitioners’ request for access to the said INEC’s server.