Wednesday, Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi informed the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja that INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu has been evading subpoena service.

Mr. Obi wants Mr. Yakubu to testify before the five-member judicial panel regarding his petition challenging President Bola Tinubu's 25 February election victory.

His claim that Mr. Yakubu was evading service of a subpoena was made less than 24 hours after the lawyers for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, signaled that they would be bringing the INEC chair to court to depose on the subpoena. On Thursday, Mr. Yakubu was scheduled to testify in their case.

Mr. Obi's legal team, headed by Livy Uzoukwu, has been at odds with Nigeria's electoral commission over their inability to gain access to relevant electoral documents.

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In their joint petition, the presidential candidate and his party, the Labour Party, urged the court to overturn Mr. Tinubu's victory due to INEC's alleged fraudulent activities during the contested presidential election.

At the resumption of the hearing on Wednesday, Mr. Obi's attorney, Livy Uzoukwu, stated that the office of the chairman of the electoral umpire refused to accept a subpoena served on Mr. Yakubu to produce certain documents in court.

The disclosure was made by Mr. Uzoukwu after Mr. Obi's legal team exhausted the electoral documents it was submitting to the court.

The refusal of Mr. Yakubu's office to accept a subpoena served on him to produce certain documents prevented the team from continuing with the submission of additional documentary evidence, he said. They held the INEC director accountable for impeding the progress of their lawsuit.

INEC denies Mr Obi's claim

INEC's attorney, Kemi Pinheiro, demanded that Mr Obi's legal team cease blaming the electoral commission for its tardiness in conducting the case in response to Mr Uzoukwu's claim.

Mr. Pinheiro, a SAN, stated that Mr. Uzoukwu's strategy was to blame petition respondents for their incapacity to vigorously pursue their case.

"It has become routine. When they want an adjournment, they search for someone to lash. It cannot be true that the INEC Chairman's office refuses subpoenas.

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"Do not use INEC as a scapegoat. If they have nothing else to do today, they should simply remain where they are. It is their moment. Mr. Pinhero told Mr. Uzoukwu that it was incorrect that the office of INEC's chairman refused to receive a subpoena.

Background

Since 30 May, when the court began hearing the merits of Mr. Obi's petition against Mr. Tinubu's victory, his attorneys have primarily submitted documentary evidence to support their case.

So far, the evidence has included election-related documents such as results sheets and Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machine reports, among others, used during the presidential election.

During the two-week pre-hearing session of the court, Mr. Obi indicated that he would summon fifty witnesses to support his allegations of electoral fraud against INEC and Mr. Tinubu.

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As the deadline for Mr. Obi's case to be prosecuted, June 23, approaches, he has only summoned two witnesses.

The judge granted him three weeks to gather witnesses and tender documents to prove his case.

The court adjourned further proceedings in the case until Thursday.

His case is the only one of three lodged in court to contest Mr. Tinubu's February election victory.