By Brave Dickson
The counsel to the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar at the ongoing presidential election tribunal, Chris Uche (SAN) has said that INEC does not have integrity.
Speaking with our correspondent shortly after the presidential election tribunal sitting on Wednesday in Abuja, Atiku’s lawyer said: “It is quite surprising that the documents that INEC has been objecting in the past few days which we have been tendering before the election court are all certified true copies of INEC’s documents.
“These are documents we applied for to INEC and by law, INEC is authorized to release these documents to us after certification.
“And INEC received money from us and we have a receipt for it. We paid N6.69million for the documents. And upon receipt of our money, INEC certified the documents.
“CTC means you are certifying that this is the true copy of the original. That is what the Evidence Act says. And that is what the Electoral Act mandates INEC to do.
“So, it is surprising that the same documents which are the result sheets from various levels that were issued and certified by INEC are the same documents that INEC has turned around to object; in other words to doubt those documents.
“If INEC is now casting doubt on the documents, then it raises the question of integrity. And this is a government institution that once it issues a document and certifies it, it is assumed that it is a correct one.
“So, we will continue to watch. This is Nigeria where anything can happen. But for us, it is surprising.”
