The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Zamfara state, have been ordered to produce a document requested by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The tribunal led by Justice Mohammed Garba gave the order after receiving reports by the petitioners that the INEC officials had refused to comply with the court’s subpoena served on them and the payment made for it.
Presenting his argument at the resumed hearing on Wednesday, July 17, 2019, the petitioners’ lawyer, Chris Uche (SAN), he said the INEC officials had refused to release documents to the petitioners despite that the fees for the certification for the documents had been paid to the commission.
“We have made concerted efforts and we stated in the letters we wrote to them that we have it on good authority that they were instructed not to release the documents,” Uche said.
Ruling, Justice Garba said, “I have seen from the record of the court that the INEC Chairman and the Resident Electoral Commission, Zamfara State, were duly served with subpoena issued on July 9, 2019, to produce documents named therein.
“The INEC chairman and the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Zamfara and the legal team representing them are under binding obligation to ensure that the orders contained in the subpoena are obeyed.”
