The Presidency has applauded the Presidential Election Tribunal for dismissing an application filed by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to inspect INEC server allegedly used in collating the February 23 general election.
It said the action of the tribunal was a re-enactment of the long standing principle of law.
It added that the action of the tribunal was also a rejection of an attempt to cause the determination of an issue that constituted the fulcrum of contention between the parties, at an interlocutory stage.
In a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the Presidency explained that what the tribunal had done was to ensure that justice and fair hearing through due contest by the parties of a major issue for determination remained sacrosanct and remained considerable by the tribunal upon according parties just and fair hearing and not the other way round.
The statement by the Presidency reads in part: “The election petitions tribunal unanimously rejected the PDP’s request to inspect a server which existence is being disputed.
“The existence of a purported server is being contested and if a purported inspection had been allowed at this stage, it would have amounted to the determination that it indeed existed even when its existence is being contested.
“The electoral law prescribes manual transmission of results only and this was what the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did, in obedience to the law as witnessed by real electoral observers.
“YIAGA Africa deployed 3906 real individuals to run a parallel tabulation which returned the same results the INEC announced.
“Last week, the final reports of the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute (IRI/NDI) electoral observer mission made clear that the results of the election reflected the votes cast.
“President Muhammadu Buhari won with a majority of four million votes and because only real votes matter, INEC announced him as the winner of the 2019 presidential election.”
