Atiku Abubakar’s media adviser, Paul Ibe, revealed that his boss and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) abandoned a lawsuit against the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) due to circumstances superseding it.
The PDP and Abubakar had obtained permission from the tribunal to access all critical election materials utilised by INEC.
However, Atiku and his party filed a new ex-parte action, labelled CA/PEC/10M/2023, arguing that INEC denied them access to observe the sorting of ballot papers.
On Wednesday, however, when the court was scheduled to hear the case, Abubakar’s solicitor, Kyari Gadzama, informed the court that he had filed a notice of discontinuance.
In a statement explaining why the case was dropped, Ibe explained that the application was withdrawn because “events had taken precedence.”
Ibe stated that since Atiku’s attorneys were granted access to the election materials on Tuesday, there was no reason to pursue the matter.
“It has become necessary to offer some clarifications in light of insinuations and erroneous reportage on the withdrawal of the application for INEC to provide Abubakar and the PDP’s legal team access to the records related to the 25 February presidential election,” Ibe stated.
“The Court of Appeal approved Atiku and the PDP’s request for unrestricted access to the INEC papers used in the presidential election. Atiku and the PDP filed a motion (number 12M) and an affidavit of urgency on March 10, 2023, to guarantee the implementation of the court ruling.
“However, the court requested that notice be given to Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress APC, and the INEC. In response, they filed a notice move (number 13M) and an ex parte motion (number 13MA) for substituted service on Bola Tinubu.
“But, INEC eventually gave access to the PDP’s legal team on Tuesday during a conference meeting with lawyers from the PDP, LP, APC, and INEC.
“When the subject came up for hearing on Wednesday, the two motions were dropped because they had been rendered obsolete by events, as Atiku and PDP had already been allowed access on Tuesday.”