The court of Appeal, on Wednesday, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to grant the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, access to materials it used for the February 25 presidential election.

The Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led panel said it found merit in Tinubu’s request to have access to the electoral materials in order for him to prepare his defence.

Both Tinubu and the APC had, in separate ex parte applications they brought before the court, said they would need the materials to prepare their defence against petitions that would seek to nullify the outcome of the election.

Tinubu, through his lawyer, Mr Akintola Makinde, said he would need to inspect, scan and make photocopies of some of the electoral materials to enable him to prepare his defence against petitions that would seek to nullify his election.

“The materials will be relevant in helping us to prepare our defence and also make comparison with information contained in INEC’s back-end server,” he said.

While Tinubu’s first ex parte application, which was filed on March 6, has the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as respondents, in the second application, the Peoples Democratic Party, and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, were listed as respondents, alongside INEC.