Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi, of the Labour Party, were granted access to the election materials used in the presidential election last Saturday by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday.
The PUNCH had previously reported that Atiku and Obi had moved the Presidential Election Court to request authorization for the inspection of election materials used in the vote on Saturday.
According to reports, Atiku and Obi vowed to defend their election victory in court and would not accept loss in the presidential election held on February 25.
In his acceptance speech after being named the winner of the election on Wednesday, Bola Tinubu requested the two candidates to join him in the effort to improve the country, but the gesture of reconciliation was rejected by the two contenders.
On Thursday in Abuja, Atiku and Obi each gave a speech at a separate news conference.
But on Friday, the court agreed to both candidates' requests for access to all of the sensitive materials INEC used for the poll, which All Progressives Congress candidate Bola Tinubu won.
After hearing two distinct ex-parte motions submitted by Atiku, Obi, and their political parties, the appellate court panel, which would also serve as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, granted the request. The panel was led by Judge Joseph Ikyegh.
Tinubu, the APC, and the electoral umpire were named as respondents in the case.
Both requests were supported by Section 146 (1) of the Electoral Act of 2022, Paragraphs 47 (1, 2 & 3) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act of 2022, as well as the Court's inherent authority as referred to in Sections 6 (6) A & B of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Obi asked for six main reliefs in his motion, which was brought by his legal team under the direction of Mr. Alex Ejesieme, SAN.
Adedamola Faloku, Atiku's attorney, requested seven requests from the panel.
The applicants specifically sought the court to order INEC to let them receive records that were in its possession and used for the presidential election.
They insisted that the required records would support their petition challenging the declared Tinubu victory in the presidential election.