NEWS GENIE

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, seeking access to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s sever. The Dattijo Muhammad-led five-man panel, in a unanimous judgment, dismissed the appeal, saying there was no basis to interfere with the earlier decision of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal rejecting the appellants’ request to access the said server. Justice Centus Nweze, who read the lead judgment of the apex court, said the appellants failed to establish that the tribunal wrongfully exercised its discretion in dismissing their request. He added that they also failed to place sufficient materials before the apex court to show that the tribunal’s exercise of its discretion was either arbitrary or illegal. He added that the allegation by the appellants that they were denied fair hearing by the June 24, 2019 ruling of the tribunal was unsubstantiated. Atiku and PDP had alleged i