INEC, Peter Obi’s Lawyers Clash In Court As INEC Chairman Is Accused Of Avoiding Summon

The lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi on Wednesday accused the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu of dodging court summons.

Speaking at the resumed hearing of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja, Uzoukwu said the INEC Chairman has refused to accept a subpoena from the bailiff of the court.

He added, however, that an agreement has been reached between him and INEC lead counsel, A.B. Mahmoud SAN, for the subpoena (court summon) to be served on any member of his team.

“My lord, I drew the attention of the INEC lead counsel, A.B Mahmoud to the failure of the office of the INEC Chairman, to accept the service of a subpoena to produce more electoral documents despite the efforts of the bailiffs of this court.

“He (Mahmoud) graciously asked me to give him a copy of the subpoena but I did not have an extra copy to give him now and he asked me to give to any member of his team,” he said.

Uzoukwu, however, said he does not have an extra copy of the subpoena but would send a copy to the INEC legal team after the day’s proceedings while requesting the leave of the court for proceedings to be adjourned.

“I am confident that he will do the needful for us to continue tomorrow,” Uzoukwu said.

Don’t Blame Us For Your Ineptitude

However, one of the counsels representing INEC, Oluwakemi Pinheiro (SAN), countered Uzoukwu, saying the petitioners are trying to blame his client for their own failures.

“It has become a habit. Whenever they want to seek an adjournment, they look for somebody to whip. It cannot be true that a subpoena is refused by the office of the INEC Chairman.

“Don’t use INEC as a whipping boy. If they have nothing else to do today, they should just stay so. It is their day. It is not correct that the office of INEC Chairman refused to accept a subpoena.

“This habit is showing that you’re only stalling the case. You’ve only called two witnesses out of the 50 witnesses you said you would call and it has been two weeks since tribunal started.

“I just want to make it clear that it is not correct that the INEC chairman refused to respond to the subpoena. The chairman of INEC has no interest whatsoever. So it’s very unfair and uncharitable,” the INEC lawyer retorted.