INEC’s server: Tribunal didn’t turn down my request –Atiku

The  candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party  for  the February 23   presidential  election, Atiku Abubakar, has  denied  that he and  his party’s  request  to access   the Independent National Electoral Commission’s server  was  turned down  by the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal.

In a  statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe,  on Tuesday, the former vice-president  said the tribunal  only  ruled  that  granting them  access to  the   server  was  not necessary  in the preliminary stage  of the proceedings.

Atiku was responding to a statement by  presidential  spokesman  Garba Shehu hailing  the tribunal’s  ruling  on  his party’s   request  to  access INEC’s  server.

He said, “The celebration by the administration of General Buhari that their electoral heist has been covered is premature. Their giddiness has even blinded them to the eyewitness testimony in the  multiple media interviews by  Independent National Electoral Commission  workers that there  was  indeed a server and that they actually submitted results and accreditation through it.

“In their rush to claim a pyrrhic victory, the General Buhari administration missed out  on  the fact that the 2019 budget has multiple line items for procurement, maintenance and service of the server they claim does not exist.”

He added, “The  statement tried to spin the recent verdict on the election passed by the European Union election observers. For the avoidance of doubt, what the EU report said  was  that the 2019 elections had significant defects and fell short of the 2015 elections. It should be noted that one of the issues they raised  was  the attempt to muzzle not just the media, but more importantly the judiciary.

“In the light of this, we remind those who are gloating in their ignorance that ‘he who laughs last, laughs best. The last has not been heard of this matter and we eagerly anticipate the actual ruling of the tribunal when the case proper begins.”

Atiku  has insisted that he won the election.

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