The Labour party lead Counsel, Livy Uzoukwu has continued to express to the public the unwillingness of the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] to comply with the dictates of the law and the pronouncement of the law courts.
The lead Counsel had earlier called on the INEC to abide by the instructions of the Court – that instructed the INEC to make available all materials requested by the Labour Party concerning the presidential elections of February 25, 2023. This was as a result of the INEC’s refusal to release the sensitive materials in a timely manner.
It took the threat of a national strike for the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu to convene a meeting with the team of lawyers from the Labour party. At the meeting the INEC chairman promised to provide the materials and assured the lawyers that the INEC will never deny them access to the matters.
This was five days ago.
Yesterday, the INEC released materials for two [2] States instead of the thirty six [36] States. Prompting the lead counsel to react in an interview with Arise News – “We needed 36 States, we requested for 9 states as at today we have only been allowed access to 2 states, I am not impressed with INEC”.
There is palpable fear the INEC may not deliver the necessary materials needed by the Lawyers in order to meeting the twenty one [21] day deadline. There is also concern the INEC may be wilfully delaying the release of the materials.
Stay tuned
