Monday in Abuja, Yakubu received the LP presidential candidate Mr Peter Gregory Obi’s legal team of 60 lawyers led by Dr Livy Uzoukwu, where he assured them that the commission would not hide any document from anybody and would make available any document that they have requested.
Yakubu said that the commission had received a letter from Uzoukwu on behalf of the Labour Party, stating that the team would be at the commission to inspect materials and requested the commission to get in touch with its Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) across the 37 states of the federation to make the documents and information available for the prosecution of their petition.
The INEC boss assured the team that there were two categories of documents: those in possession of the headquarters of INEC, which would be made available to them, and others that were at the state level, which they needed to work out the schedule for inspection.
He also informed the LP legal team that a meeting had been scheduled with all the RECs to discuss this matter, among other issues. Yakubu said that the commission would work out modalities for the inspection of materials in the states, and they would make arrangements to notify the RECs of the team's intended visit so that those documents would be made available to them, including access to the inspection of any category of materials.
Dr Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) said that the team came to INEC because they had not received any electoral stocks for inspection on behalf of their clients, especially because the election petition is time sensitive. They had 21 days to file a petition on behalf of their clients, and out of that 21 days, they had about 10 days to go, and up till then, they had not received any documents.
They had written to INEC requesting the documents, but they had not received any. The Court of Appeal made an order on March 3, to INEC to release those documents to them, but they had not received any, hence their request for a meeting with the chairman of the commission.
Uzoukwu said that the chairman had graciously granted that audience within very short notice, and he had given them assurance, concrete assurance on record that all documents they require would be made available, and if possible, some of them would be made available to them that day.
They believed that would happen, and they were leaving there rest assured that they would leave with some documents, and the rest could then come from the next day and so on and so forth.
The assurance given by Yakubu to the LP legal team shows the commission's commitment to transparency and fairness in the electoral process, which is essential for democracy. The timely provision of these documents to the LP legal team will enable them to effectively prosecute their case at the PEPT and ensure that justice is served.
The cooperation between the LP legal team and the commission also shows that the electoral process can be conducted in a peaceful and orderly manner without any undue interference.