Tribunal Didn’t Stop Me From Inspecting INEC Server -Atiku …Says Presidency’s Celebration, Premature

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has insisted that the presidential election tribunal did not prevent him from inspecting the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as speculated by some media reports.
Atiku, who expressed optimism in his ability to win in the tribunal, said that the tribunal only said the case has not reached the issue of server inspection yet.
The PDP candidate, in a statement, through his spokesperson, Paul Ibe, yesterday, said the tribunal only said the request was not relevant in the current stage of the case.
“The request by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party to inspect the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission was NOT rejected,” Ibe, said in the statement, in Abuja.
“What the honourable tribunal said is that it is still at preliminary stages, and the main case has not begun, and that the matter of granting access to inspect the INEC server is not relevant to the preliminary stages. It is a matter to be adjudicated upon when the case proper is being heard.”
The statement added that not only did Abubakar win the presidential election in February, “but that the administration of Gen Muhammadu Buhari lacks executive temperament and capacity as we will now establish.
“In their rush to claim a Pyrrhic victory, the Gen Buhari administration missed out the fact that the 2019 budget has multiple line items for procurement, maintenance and service of the server they claim does not exist.
“In the light of this, we remind those who are gloating in their ignorance that ‘he who laughs last, laughs best’, Ibe said.
“The last has not been heard of this matter and we eagerly anticipate the ACTUAL ruling of the Tribunal when the case proper begins”, he added.
It would be recalled that several INEC officials during the 2019 presidential election, had earlier reportedly claimed that they transmitted results electronically to a ‘central server’ through smart card readers.
The electronic transmission of the results were said to have been done in compliance with the directive given by the commission during a three-day training before the polls.
The officials, who were said to have worked as presiding officers, had claimed they were told that there was a central server in Abuja.
Meanwhile, political activist and former deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank has accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of resorting to harassment and blackmail of judges to do their bidding.
The activist, however, expressed confidence in the Supreme Court justices, saying the highest court remains a credible institution.
Reacting to the Appeal Court judgement which denied the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, access to inspect the computer server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) used for the 2019 elections, Frank said in a statement, yesterday, in Abuja, that the Buhari government “has resorted to using various security agencies to openly intimidate some of the judges into doing its bidding”.
Frank cited media reports quoting the President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Paul Usoro, SAN, who declared that judges were afraid of performing their duties as expected due to fear and intimidation from the Executive arm of government.
The report quoted Usoro as saying: “Our judges are threatened, intimidated and blackmailed mostly by the Executive arm of government and their agencies both at the federal and state levels.
“Our judges cannot deliver justice under a climate of fear and intimidation. Justice thrives where and when there is an independent Judiciary.