The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has
said it will not canvass in the media matters that are sub-judice.
The commission said this in reaction to the recent exchange
of words between the two major parties on the case before the presidential
election petition tribunal.
In a statement on Monday by its national commissioner,
Festus Okoye, the commission said it will not do so because it is a law-abiding
body.
“The commission is a Iaw-abiding institution and will not
argue or canvass in the media, petitions that are sub-judice and where the
Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal is firmly seized of the issues.
“The commission is a law-abiding institution and will
continue to accord the requisite respect to judicial institutions and obey the
orders of court.”
Mr Abubakar, however, is challenging the victory of the
president at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal with a 139-page
document.
He claims he polled 18,356,732 votes while Buhari recorded
16,741,430 from the data in INEC’s server.
But INEC denied this saying PDP’s claim is false.
The APC has urged the tribunal to dismiss PDP’s petition for
incompetence. It argued that Section 131(a) of the Constitution stipulates that
a person must be a citizen of Nigeria by birth to be qualified to contest for
the office of the President.
In response, Mr Abubakar said the APC does not deserve a
response from him over its claim that he was not born a Nigerian.
In a statement on Saturday, Paul Ibe, Mr Abubakar’s media
adviser, said such “ridiculous defence” from the APC to his statistical claims
“shows to Nigerians the type of characters we have in the APC.”
He also said the legitimacy of the APC government runs out
on May 29.
INEC said it is aware there are issues and it has, as a
respondent, responded to the petitions.
“The Commission is also aware that issues have been joined
in the said petitions as the petitioners have filed their petitions and the
respondents have responded to the petitions.
“The Commission as one of the respondents in the Petition
filed by the PDP and its Presidential Candidate has responded to the said
Petition.”
The commission believes if there is a need for any action,
the lawyers representing the petitioners know what to do.
“The lawyers representing the petitioners are seized of the
state of the law and the course to take if they truly believe that the
Commission is in disobedience of the orders of the Presidential Election
Petitions Tribunal.”
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