Mike Enahoro-Ebah, an Abuja-based lawyer, has sued the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its refusal to provide
the certified true copies (CTCs) of documents relating to Bola Tinubu’s
presidential nomination.
The lawyer is also seeking an order asking INEC to release
Tinubu’s nomination forms submitted when he contested the Lagos governorship
election in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
Tinubu is the presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC).
In a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1337/2022, Enahoro-Ebah is
seeking an order granting him leave to apply for judicial review of an order of
mandamus directing or compelling INEC to furnish him with the CTCs of the
“nomination forms for governor and affidavits in support of personal particulars
and all other documents attached thereto, submitted to the respondent by and on
behalf of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the 1999 and 2003 Governorship
Elections in Lagos State”.
Additionally, the applicant is requesting that the court
orders INEC to give him the CTCs of the “Nomination Forms EC13A, EC 9,
affidavits and any other papers filed to the respondent (INEC) by and on behalf
of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the 2023 Presidential Election in Nigeria”.
According to him, he had applied for the documents through
two different letters dated July 13 and July 22 to INEC, pursuant to section
29(4) of the Electoral Act, 2022; section 1(1) and (3); section 2(6) and
section 7(4) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.
The plaintiff said the request for Tinubu’s credentials was
based on the argument that since INEC is holding them, they have become public
records and he is entitled to access them under section 29(4) of the Electoral
Act, 2022 and section1(1) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.
“The mandatory
statutory duration of 14 (fourteen) days within which the respondent is to
issue CTCs of the requested public documents in its custody and possession,
according to Section 29 (4) of the Electoral Act, 2022, has lapsed, therefore,
the respondent is deemed to have refused to accede to applicant’s
request/application,” the document reads.
“The right of access to public documents in custody and
possession of the respondent is inclusive of the right to institute civil
proceedings in court to compel the respondent to issue same documents to anyone
who applies for same, as established in Section 29 (4) of the Electoral Act,
2022, and Section 1 (3), Section 2 (6) and Section 7 (4) of the Freedom of
Information Act, 2011.
“The public documents sought from the respondent are
connected one way or another to the election and the sui generis nature of it
means time is of the essence.”
Enahoro-Ebah prayed the court to declare that the failure of
INEC to provide the CTCs of the public documents in its custody amounts to “a
breach of Section 29(4) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and a wrongful denial of
information under the Freedom of Information Act, 2011”.
INEC is the only defendant in the suit.
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