It can be recalled that Atiku and his party, PDP dragged the APC to court over the just concluded presidential elections over allegations of rigging and other electoral malpractices.
Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party, went to the presidential election tribunal following his loss to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari who was re-elected for a second term late last month.
Abubakar rejected election results, alleging irregularities during the vote, which was also marred by violence. The PDP and its candidate on Tuesday sought a court order to compel the electoral body INEC to grant them access to polling documents. That would enable them launch a legal challenge against the election results.
In a unanimous ruling by a panel of three judges, the tribunal ordered INEC to "allow the applicants or their representatives to inspect the polling documents and obtain certified true copies of all polling documents".
A 3 member Tribunal headed by Justice Abdul Aboki made the judgement in line with section 151(1 &2) of the Electoral Act as amended in 2010. The tribunal
However, a request to scan and conduct a forensic audit of the election documents was rejected by the tribunal.
Buhari, a 76-year-old former military ruler, has rejected doubts over the election result saying voting was free and fair.
Under Nigeria's electoral law, Abubakar has up to 21 days after the announcement of the results to launch a legal challenge which must be determined by the election petition tribunal within 180 days.
In the event that the election court decision is challenged, the Supreme court would make its final verdict within 90 days.
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