The Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will not engage the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in debate over petitions before the presidential election petition
tribunal because they are “sub-judice.”
Festus Okoye, chairman,
information and voter education committee of the commission, said this in a
statement.
Okoye was responding to PDP’s
allegation that INEC refused to release election materials used for the conduct
of the February 23 presidential poll for inspection.
Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP spokesman,
had said the continued refusal of INEC to release the electoral materials to
the party and its legal team was “completely provocative, standing in the way
of justice and working against the will of the people.”
The tribunal had ordered the
electoral commission to release the materials to the opposition party after the
party and Atiku Abubakar, its presidential candidate, filed petitions before
it.
However, the national
commissioner said INEC “is a Iaw-abiding institution and will continue to
accord the requisite respect to judicial institutions and obey the orders of
courts.”
“The commission is aware that
very senior lawyers are representing the petitioners and the respondents in
relation to the said petitions,” Okoye said.
“The commission is a law-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 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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