The Labour Party (LP) campaign has accused the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) of not allowing Peter Obi, standard bearer
of the party, to access election materials.
Recall that the court of appeal granted leave to Obi to have
access to all the sensitive materials used by INEC.
INEC, however, asked the court to vary the order, saying the
bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) needs to be reprogrammed ahead of the
governorship and state assembly polls.
In a statement on Friday, Yunusa Tanko, spokesperson of the
LP campaign, described the move by INEC as “an act of judicial
insubordination”.
“The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) with greatest impunity have refused,
neglected and failed to obey the order of the presidential election petition
tribunal sitting in Abuja made on the 3rd day of March 2023, directing it to
grant the Labour Party and its presidential candidate H.E. Peter Gregory Obi
leave to apply and receive from INEC certified true copies of materials used in
the presidential election held on 25th February 2023,” he said.
“It will be recalled that the aforesaid order of the
presidential election petition tribunal was duly served on INEC on the 3rd of
March 2023 despite the fact that they were present and represented at the
tribunal when the order was made.
“Not minding the service of the said order on INEC, and a
reminder letter dated the 6th day of March 2023 and delivered same date at the
INEC headquarters Abuja, the electoral umpire has continued to ignore and or
disobey the valid order of such magnitude till NOW.
“It should be noted
that in a democracy like ours, rule of law must triumph not only in our legal
system but also in our body polity as a whole.
“Parties to a litigation like in this instant case must
accept and obey every order of the court in good faith and no party should be
seen to employ self-help to disparage or disrespect an order of court which if
not checked and curtailed could possibly undermine our democracy, rule of law
and constitutionalism.
“The action of INEC under reference also constitutes for all
intent and purposes, an act of judicial insubordination and willful refusal to
comply to the order of court. As we speak INEC has chosen to obey the court
order given to it to reconfigure the BIVAS machine, which they are doing right
now, and ignoring the order granted to us to inspect electoral materials.”
The Labour Party campaign said the disobeying of court order
is a well calculated attempt to undermine and frustrate the presentation of the
petition by the party.
“We therefore want to
state that we will not fail to call our supporters to march to INEC offices
nationwide in a non violent protest which is allowed by law. This is to curtail
the flagrant disobedience to court orders by INEC,” the LP campaign said.
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