The Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, allegedly refused to pay the N1.5 million requested to get access to the records, according to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC).
This information was disclosed by INEC’s attorney, Abubakar Mahmoud, during the presidential election petition court’s session on Wednesday.
Mahmoud was addressing allegations made by Levy Uzoukwu, a lawyer for the LP, that the commission had withheld crucial records that they had asked for and intended to use as evidence in their lawsuit contesting the results of the 2023 presidential election.
In her testimony to the Haruna Tsammani-led commission, Uzoukwu said that INEC “stubbornly refused to produce 70% of the requested electoral documents.”
Uzoukwu specifically mentioned that it has been impossible to get documentation pertaining to the elections in the states of Rivers and Sokoto.
Uzoukwu said that the INEC authorities in Sokoto State requested a cost of N1.5 million to process the paperwork.
In response to the charge, INEC’s attorney said that Obi’s legal team had failed to attend a meeting intended to resolve complications about papers that would be submitted to the court.
