BY TIMOTHY AGBOR
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has embarked on some legal steps to challenge the outcome of the February 25 presidential election in Nigeria.
Obi and Labour Party have filed a motion exparte seeking permission to inspect materials and also obtain certified copies of documents in the custody of Independent National Electoral Commission.
In the motion filed on March 2, 2023 before Presidential Election Petition Court holding in Abuja, Obi and Labour Party are the two Applicants respectively while the Independent National Electoral Commission, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu and All Progressives Congress are listed as the three Respondents respectively.
The suit marked CA/PEC/02m/2023, a copy of which was sighted by The Point on Friday, showed that the Applicants also prayed the court to bring the application before the Pre-hearing session.
It indicated that hearing on the motion would come up on March 3, 2023 at 9am.
The court document read, “In the matter of application to obtain documents in the custody of the 1st respondent (INEC) used for the presidential election held on February 25, 2023.
“Motion exparte brought pursuant to section 36(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, Section 146 of the Electoral Act, 2022, and Paragraph 47(1); 54 of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, 2022, and under the inherent power of the honourable tribunal.
“An order granting leave to the Applicants to bring this Application outside or before the Pre-hearing session.”
The Point had reported that INEC had declared the candidate of APC, Bola Tinubu winner of the keenly contested poll and returned him elected.
Meanwhile, Obi and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar had laid claim to victory and vowed to challenge the outcome of the election in court.
