Rivers State Governor and candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party in the April 11,
2015 governorship election, Nyesom Wike,
has asked the state governorship election
petition tribunal sitting in Abuja, to bar the
rival All Progressives Congress and its
candidate in the election, Dr. Dakuku
Peterside, to inspect the electoral materials
used for the poll.
Peterside and the APC had on May 3, 2015,
filed their petition before the tribunal
challenging Wike’s victory at the poll.
The Independent National Electoral
Commission, Wike and the PDP are the
respondents to the petition. The Justice
Muazu Pindiga-led tribunal had on June 11,
2015 granted an ex parte order permitting
the petitioners to personally or through their
lawyers or forensic expert inspect the
electoral materials used for the poll.
But, through a motion dated June 16, 2015
filed on his behalf by his lawyer , Emmanuel
Ukala (SAN), Wike asked the tribunal to set
aside the ex parte order for the inspection of
the electoral materials, particularly the
voters register and the card reader
machines.
He argued that allowing the petitioners to
have access to the card reader machines
and the voters register in a manner that
would allow them to make copies and store
their contents electronically could
compromise the secrecy of the ballot.
He added that it could pose security
concerns as the materials sought to be
inspected by the petitioners contained
“highly sensitive security information
containing the biometric data of all
registered voters in Nigeria.”
No comments:
Post a Comment