The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has accused the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) and the party of being unwilling to pay the required fees for the certification of the election documents they requested to prosecute their petition.
INEC said their unwillingness to pay the required fees accounts for the delay in the realization of the remaining documents about Sokoto and Rivers states.
INEC’s lead lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) at the resumed hearing of the petition by Obi and LP that his client was willing and ready to release the requested documents, once the stipulated fees were paid.
Mahmoud referred to a letter written to him by the petitioners’ lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) that his clients were not ready to pay the N1.5 million requested for the certification of the document about Sokoto State.
He also accused the Labour Party team of walking out of a meeting scheduled by parties to sort out documents to be tendered as exhibits in the case.