The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will make certified true copies (CTC) and photocopies of election materials available to political parties.
Tanimu Inuwa, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), spoke on Tuesday on behalf of the commission during an administrative meeting at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
Representatives of the Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the All Progressives Congress (APC) were present at the meeting.
On March 1, INEC declared Bola Tinubu, candidate of the APC, as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
But Peter Obi, the candidate of the LP and Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the PDP, are challenging the outcome of the election in court.
They also asked the court to grant them permission to inspect sensitive materials used by the INEC in the conduct of the election.
Upon request, the court also granted Tinubu permission to inspect INEC materials to defend his election.
In the report of the administrative meeting seen by TheCable, Inuwa said INEC currently has forms Ec8d, summary of results of each state, and FCT, Ec8da, national summary, and form Ec8a, result sheets.
However, he said the result sheets and ballot papers are in the various states not at the headquarters.
He also suggested that a timeline for visitation for all parties should be made for ease and the persons appointed to inspect should be limited.
Inuwa said the BVAS and backend report of over 11,000 pages were being finalised, adding that the certified true copies and photocopies of the document will be made available.
Responding, Joe-Kyari Gadzama, a SAN representing the PDP, requested that the inspection begins on Tuesday (today) given the timeline.
Gadzama said representatives of the PDP in various states have gone to the INEC offices for inspection but were denied access because the headquarters had not given the go-ahead.
He said in addition to the documents already requested by the party, it would need the report of the offline and online logs and server from February 24 and March 1, including the phone numbers used on each BVAS.
“Babatunde Ogala, SAN representing APC stated that all parties should henceforth inspect the documents together in the spirit of transparency and a joint committee of all parties should be made to come up with a schedule for the inspection,” the report reads.
“Livy Uzochukwu, SAN representing LP stated that LP and PDP petitioned while APC is responding. Hence the timelines are different and petitioners should be treated with priority.”
At the end of the meeting, it was resolved that PDP and APC can commence inspection immediately while LP having started inspection will continue from where it left off.
