Mahammadu Buhari, CPC Presidential candidate |
CPC wants tribunal to declare it winner of April 2011 Presidential Election
Chukwumerejie Aja, Abuja
An opposition political party in Nigeria, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), wants the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to declare it the winner of the 2011 Presidential poll.
This call is sequel to alleged refusal by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) to comply with the order for inspection of Presidential Election materials granted by the Tribunal on May 24, 2011.
This application is contained in a statement issued by the national publicity secretary of CPC, Mr Rotimi Fashakin in Abuja on Thursday August 11, 2011.
The petition
The application is based upon the grounds that; “the Petitioner was one of the registered political parties that contested the Presidential Election held on April 16, 2011 and had in consequence thereof demanded for election materials from the 1st Respondent vide series of letters written to that effect before, during and at the conclusion of the election.”
"That first and second respondents denied the Petitioner’s request by failing to make copies of the requested election materials available to the applicant and the applicant was as a result forced to file an application dated May 15, 2011 for an order directing the first and second respondents to produce for the inspection of the applicants and permitting it to take copies of the election material used in the conduct of the election.
"That this Honourable Court had on the 24th day of May, 2011 granted an order pursuant to the application referred to in paragraph 2 above in the following terms.”
The opposition party has, however, on Friday, filed a at the Court of Appeal for Judgment.
Against the foregoing, the Congress for Progressive Change is seeking the following reliefs:
"An order of this Honourable Court entering Judgment in favor of the Petitioner in Petition No. CA/A/EPT/PRES/1/2011 under Paragraph 18(11) of the 1st Schedule to the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended and Section 149 of the Evidence Act on the ground.”
Earlier Tribunal order
It would be recalled that the Tribunal had earlier made "an order that INEC shall grant the Petitioner and any other party in the petition their counsel agents or experts access to the biometric Data Base created by the DDC machines for register of voters, used at the Presidential Election held on 16th April, 2011.
INEC shall give notice to parties as to time, date and place for such exercise provided that the absence of a party duly notified shall not delay such exercise.
"An order that INEC shall grant access to the Petitioner and any other party to the petition, their counsel and their experts, to inspect and take certified True Copy (CTC) of election materials i.e. Register of Voters used in all the Polling Units at Presidential Election held on 16/04/2011.
Williams
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