APC accuses INEC of disobeying court order in Gombe

THE All Progressives Congress (APC), Gombe State Chapter, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Gombe of not co-operating with the tribunal ruling of May 19, 2015 which mandated it to allow the APC to inspect, copy, photocopy and obtain certified true copies of all electoral materials related to the governorship election held on April 11, 2015.

Speaking with journalists in Gombe yesterday, Secretary of APC Governorship Campaign Organisation, Adamu Abubakar Modibbo, said after the ruling of the 19th of this month by the Gombe State governorship tribunal which re-affirmed the order mandating INEC to allow them inspect, copy, photocopy and obtain certified true copies of all electoral materials related to or in connection with the conduct of last governorship election.

He said unfortunately after the ruling, their counsel approached INEC in order to obtain the documents but they refused to give them.

“Actually, we don’t know why INEC don’t want to obey the court order. Even without the court order based on the provision in the Electoral Act, which stated that we can apply to INEC to obtain those documents, we have written to them and secondly, we have a court order but they refused to give us the documents,” he said.

According to him, the document they want INEC to issue them as contained in the court order are forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D, and EC8E, EC 17A, EC 25A, EC 25B, EC 40A, EC 40G, EC and 40H used in the said election, adding: “We have already directed our counsel to take all necessary action within the confine of the law.”

When contacted, the Gombe State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Kassim Gaidam, said this accusation was most unfair in the sense that even before the tribunal was set up, INEC in Gombe has been co-operating with all the political parties in term of requirement of all materials.

According to him: “The accusation by APC that we have not been complying with court order on the release of materials is most unfair not only to INEC but to the entire judicial process. APC had applied for and obtained most of the materials from INEC in Gombe State even before the tribunal started sitting. In fact, out of five volumes of governorship petition by APC, four volumes are certified true copies of materials obtained from INEC in Gombe State with the full co-operation of the REC and the management.

“We want to assure all parties and stakeholders that we will continue to be law-abiding organisation. We, however, hereby remind APC to allow their lawyers to execute their brief without any inconvenience and to also allow the election tribunal to carry out its constitutional responsibilities without interference by aggrieved parties, the public or the press which APC in Gombe State wants to use to fight her case.”