The Bauchi State Governorship, National and State House of Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal, which met in Bauchi on Thursday, granted the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its gubernatorial candidate in the March 18 election, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar (retd), permission to inspect sensitive materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state’s governorship election.
Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared the winner of the governorship race in the state by INEC on March 20, polling 525,280 votes to the APC candidate’s 432,272 votes.
Not satisfied with the results, the party and its candidate filed a complaint with the tribunal, joining Governor Mohammed, the PDP, and INEC as respondents.
In a decision on an ex-parte application brought before the panel by the APC and Abubakar, the tribunal, headed by Justice FN Azinge, found the application to be meritorious and granted it.
The tribunal also ordered INEC to make all election materials used in the governorship race accessible to the applicants, their agents, and counsel.
“The petitioners are to take certified copies of all electoral materials used in the conduct of the Bauchi governorship election held on March 18, 2023,” Justice Azinge ruled.
Earlier, Barrister Rilwan Jibrin, who represented Ishaq Magaji, SAN, the lead counsel for the applicants, asked the court to order INEC to allow his client to acquire documents used in the election kept in its possession, claiming that they would help the applicants’ petition.
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