INEC, APC Express Disapproval As Atiku Presents Tinubu’s Biodata

The political landscape faced a heated uproar as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) voiced their strong objections to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s submission of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s biodata. The move has ignited a fierce debate across party lines, raising concerns about political tactics and privacy breaches.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Thursday, tendered before the Presidential Election Petition Court, personal information supplied by President Bola Tinubu, which he presented for his qualification for the office of the President.

The electoral umpire produced the form EC9, which contains Tinubu’s biodata pursuant to the subpoena issued on INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mahmoud, by the court.

The Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, are challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the February 25 presidential poll.

The PDP had on Tuesday disclosed that it subpoenaed the INEC chairman to appear before the court on Thursday in order to produce some requested documents necessary to prove their claim that Tinubu’s election was invalid.

At the resumed hearing, PDP lawyer, Chris Uche (SAN), informed the court that the INEC chair, through a Deputy Director of the commission, M.O Tairu, had brought some of the required documents pursuant to the subpoena.

Following the notification of the court, Tairu tendered form EC8D, which is a series of results for the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The Certified True Copies of the accredited documents from the 36 states and the FCT were produced and presented in both soft and hard copies.

Tairu also tendered form EC8DA, which is the final declaration of the results.

She tendered before the court, accredited data from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System with respect to Rivers State.

All the respondents, including INEC objected to the admissibility of the documents.

Counsel for INEC, A.B. Mahmoud, also asserted that the petitioners had yet to pay for the certification of the documents tendered.

However, Uche countered the statement, saying the sum of N6.7m “has been paid to the first respondent.”

He also argued that the documents were produced upon the orders of the court.

The five-man panel of the court headed by Justice Tsammani admitted the documents in evidence and marked them as exhibits.