S’Court fixes August 20 for Atiku’s server appeal

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned till August 20 the hearing of an appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, seeking access to the server which they claimed the Independent National Electoral Commission transmitted the authentic results of the February 23 presidential poll into.

The Justice Mary Peter-Odili-led panel of five judges of the apex court adjourned the hearing of the appeal due to the late filing of an application by the PDP and Atiku.

The appellants are currently before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal challenging  President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the election.

The appeal was filed to challenge the June 24, 2019 ruling of the Justice Mohammed Garba-led tribunal dismissing the petitioners’ application seeking to be granted permission to access to  INEC’s server.

Dismissing the application, the tribunal held that granting it would amount to pre-judging the main issue meant for trial during the substantive hearing of the petition.

Justice Garba, who delivered the lead ruling, held that INEC having denied the existence of the said server and insisted that results of the election were not electronically transmitted into any server as alleged by the petitioners, granting the application would amount to deciding the central issue in the petition at the interlocutory stage.

The petitioners’ appeal against the tribunal’s ruling was scheduled for hearing on Tuesday.

Shortly after the appeal was called, the appellant’s lawyer, Paul Erokoro (SAN),  said, “It is with regret that I inform the court that we filed an application this morning in order to properly bring before the court the supplementary record that has been transmitted out of time by the lower court.”

Asked by the tribunal for his response,  counsel for INEC, Yunus Usman (SAN), said he had not been served with the said application but was ready to receive it.

President Buhari’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), too said he had not been served.

But APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), said he was served shortly before the court started sitting but would need time to formally respond to it.

At the end of the day, the three respondents asked for time to respond to the application.

Justice Peter-Odili then adjourned till August 20 for the hearing of the appellants’ applications and others filed by the respondents.