Alex Enumah in Abuja The Presidential Election Petition Court (PREPEC) has dismissed two applications by the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, seeking to interrogate the Independent
The Presidential Election Petition Court has dismissed two applications by the candidate of the Labour Party , Mr Peter Obi, seeking to interrogate the Independent National Electoral Commission over the Information and Communication Technology experts used during the conduct of the February 25 presidential election.
Delivering ruling in the two applications on Saturday, the Chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, held that the petitioners failed to establish “the existence of an extreme circumstance” for the granting of such applications. While stating that the petitioners did not challenge the report of the panel that pre-hearing session ended on May 22, “nor draw the attention of the court to the pending applications”, Justice Tsammani held that: “It is the duty of a party who filed a motion to indicate its intention to move it…a process not moved is deemed not to have been filed.”
However, when Ikweto attempted to move the applications on June 5, the respondents objected on the grounds that it was not ripe for hearing. It was his argument that such applications ought to have been brought and argued during the pre-hearing session of the PREPEC. A five-member panel of the PREPEC, in a unanimous decision, held that the two applications were incompetent and lacking in merit and accordingly dismissed them.
According to the court, applications relating to electoral matters including interrogatories must be filed and heard during the pre-hearing session, adding that any application which is brought after the end of pre-hearing must show extreme circumstance why the court should hear it . The panel further stated that it was wrong for the petitioners to blame the respondents or the court for a motion which was not filed or moved.Obi and LP had in their motion prayed the court for an order compelling INEC to supply them with the names and profiles of the ICT experts that participated in one way or another in the February 25 presidential election.
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