As at the last count, at least 15 governorship candidates and aggrieved assembly candidates in the last general elections are set to contest the outcome at the election tribunals. With the unfolding developments, the question is; can the judiciary make a difference? KEHINDE OSASONA writes.
Background
Few weeks ago, the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) at a news conference in Abuja, advised politicians to channel their grievances arising from the 2019 general elections through the constituted election petition tribunal.
Acting director general of the institute, Mr Bakut Tswah, said aggrieved contestants have legal right to seek redress in the tribunal, arguing that such actions are generally accepted norms.
“We therefore urge politicians in the country to learn to tread on the path of honour in expressing their pleasures or displeasure.
“We encourage all Nigerians to shun violence and avoid utterances, actions or reactions that could disrupt the peaceful processes of the 2019 general elections. Election situations call for patriotism and sportsmanship; there are no losers in the actual sense of it.”
2015 poll
Blueprint Weekend reports that in the aftermath of the 2015 general elections, President Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, said the election petition tribunals received a total of 730 election petitions, out of which 39 governorship petitions got to the appellate court in 2015, 79 senatorial petitions, 179 House of Representatives and 380 House of Assembly petitions.
Violence, failure of card readers
But following their report after the just concluded elections, some observer groups that monitored the recently concluded governorship and state assembly elections in Kaduna state, alleged the exercise was dogged by irregularities such as non-usage of card readers and violence in some places.
Corroborating the outcry, Bayelsa state Governor Seriake Dickson complained that the smart card reader did not read him during the state assembly elections, in his home, attesting that he later cast his vote manually.
“As you can see I have just voted and a number of people are also coming out to vote. The low turnout is understandable due to the militarisation of the state.
“My card reader as you saw just now didn’t read and it has never read me since 2015, I don’t know whether it has been specially programmed.
“My comments will be to call for people to come out en-masse to cast their ballot peacefully as we have done here. Whatever should be the verdict of the people every leader should accept it.
“There are reports of coercion of voters in Brass LGA. In Ayama constituency of Ogbia local government area, I have been alerted about soldiers trying to overpower electoral officers so that they can write any results.”
Also, while addressing a press conference in Kaduna, an amalgam of civil society organisations and groups led by Prof. Banake Sambo of Initiative for the Promotion of Civic Obligation and Sustainable Peace, said noticeable irregularities during the exercise were not substantial enough to warrant the cancellation of elections results.
The groups however alleged there was massive vote buying and inducement in Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Ikara, Kubau and also Kachia, Igabi, Giwa, Zaria, Kagarko, Lere, Soba and Kauru.”
They also observed that non-usage of card readers in some polling units in 10 local governments of Giwa, Zaria, Sabon-Gari, Ikara, Lere, Igabi, Soba, Kaduna South and Kaduna North characterizes voting.
“Our delegation observed that the elections were marred by irregularities, instances of intimidation, votes buying, violent acts during voting, counting and collation of results as reported in some places.
“The actions and impunity with which some electoral actors conducted themselves, using the military, INEC officials and polling agents, subvert citizen confidence in elections and threaten the legitimacy of the outcome of the elections.”
Rejection sprees in states
But few hours after the general elections, some aggrieved parties and candidates in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Katsina, Borno, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Taraba, and Zamfara states were already rejecting results, with a threat to head for the election tribunals to claim their mandates.
Zamfara
Leading the packs of aggrieved parties, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Zamfara state vowed to challenge the outcome of the results of governorship at the tribunal.
Specifically, APGA governorship candidate Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, accused security agents and officials of INEC of collaborating with the APC to manipulate the exercise.
Shinkafi said the election was marred by massive irregularities, vote buying, multiple voting, multi-ballot thumb printing, ballot boxes snatching, and alleged refusal of presiding officers across the 2,516 polling units to write results as announced and declared.
He added that there was also the incidence of the manipulation of results in eight local government areas won by him with wide margin but turned in favour of the APC governorship candidate.
Lagos
In Lagos too, the governorship candidate of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Chief Owolabi Silas, also rejected the results, alleging APC colluded with INEC workers to manipulate votes.
Silas, at a briefing in Lagos, said he was putting a team of trusted lawyers together and would head to the tribunal to pursue the case to a logical conclusion.
Ebonyi
In Ebonyi state, the APC governorship candidate Senator Sonni Ogbuoji, said he would contest the outcome of the poll at the tribunal, alleging that the contest which returned the incumbent, Governor David Umahi of the PDP was a sham which would not stand in the face of the law. “The votes were procured with the connivance of the system” he further alleges further.
Enugu
On his part, the APC governorship candidate in Enugu state, Sen. Ayogu Eze, also rejected the results that returned the incumbent governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, alleging that the fabricated figures flew in the face of the very low turnout of voters in the entire state.
According to Eze’s chief spokesman, Mr Okey Ezirigwe, the election result was “phantom” and the figures churned out by INEC were “oven-baked.”
Imo
It was not a different story in Imo state, when APGA also rejected the result of governorship election through its state publicity secretary, Alphonsus Eberendu, who described the exercise as a “sham and mockery of democracy”.
Eberendu, who alleged the election was marred by monumental irregularities, called for the cancellation of the entire election on the basis that it did not meet all the constitutional requirements.
In the same vein, the governorship candidate of Action Alliance (AA), Uche Nwosu, has vowed to challenge the election results in court, saying, “It is a robbery of Action Alliance’s mandate and I believe the judiciary will take its course.”
Kaduna
In Kaduna, the PDP governorship candidate, Isa Ashiru, while rejecting the outcome of the election in the state, said he has substantial evidence, saying the election which returned Governor Nasir el-Rufai, the APC candidate was manipulated.
Ashiru, who alleged gross irregularities in some local government areas of the state, called for outright cancellation of the results.
He added that the disparity between the number of votes obtained by the APC in the presidential elections and that of the governorship elections was another cause for concern.
Ogun
Similarly, the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in Ogun state and its gubernatorial candidate, Adekunle Akinlade, have also rejected the outcome of the poll that produced APC’s Prince Dapo Abiodun as the winner, citing alleged manipulation of results.
Katsina
In Katsina state, the PDP which rejected the outcome of the governorship election that returned Governor Aminu Masari, has vowed to take legal action to challenge the results.
The state chairman of the party and deputy governorship candidate, Salisu Majigiri said the election outcome was not a true reflection of the people’s will.
Majigiri, while addressing newsmen, said PDP rejected the result because the figures announced were not real in view of poor voters’ turnout.
Nassarawa
As that was yet to simmer, the Nasarawa state chapter of the PDP, also rejected the election outcome.
Speaking through its chairman, Mr Francis Orugu, the party said the election fell short of minimum standards for the conduct of a credible election anywhere in the world.
Labaran Maku, the APGA governorship candidate in the state joined the fray, alleging the poll was marred by irregularities perpetrated by INEC in collusion with security agencies.
Borno
In Borno state, the PDP also kicked against the governorship election result declared by INEC that produced the APC candidate, Babagana Zulum, winner.
The state organising secretary of the party, Umar Bello , said the result was rejected over alleged irregularities, saying he did not sign the document declared by INEC in protest as the party’s agent at the result collation centre. Bello said the party would announce its position on the result.
Niger
Though the PDP has not officially made its position known in Niger state, last Sunday’s protest by some female party members at the INEC headquarters in Minna was an indication that it may also challenge the outcome.
Spokesperson of the protesters, Talatu Sauka, who said the results of the governorship election that favoured Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of the APC against Umar Nasko of the PDP was tampered with, urged Tanko Beji, the PDP chairman in the state not to sign the collated results.
Sauka said the women would pursue the case if he went ahead to sign the result.
Taraba
If the long argument at the collation centre between APC and PDP agents over the results from Zing local government area of Taraba state is anything to go by, then the APC may likely challenge the victory of Governor Darius Ishaku of the PDP.
The APC agent had queried PDP’s 31,619 votes as against his party’s 7,105, claiming that card readers were not deployed in the area. The PDP agent at the Jalingo centre however said the INEC office in Jalingo was a collation centre for results and not a complaints collation centre.
Rivers
The situation of things in Rivers state would equally be determined after INEC must have acted on the report of its fact-finding committee on the suspended poll.
There is general silence on the outcome of the governorship polls in Kebbi, Jigawa and Yobe states.
Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Delta states too
As that is yet to simmer, the anomalies recorded in South-south States of Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Delta states have swollen the ranks of likely petitioners.
Lamenting the alleged injustice, the APC zonal national vice chairman, Ntufam Hilliard Etta, said the party would do everything legitimate to ensure that the alleged injustices did not stand, hoping that the perpetrators are brought to book.
Eta said, “We have observed with great disappointment the ugly developments in the just concluded governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections held on Saturday, 9th of March, 2019, and the subsequent release of results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for states of the South South geo-political zone; viz: Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Delta states.
“There are reports that where elections could not hold due to violence, results are announced in favour of the PDP.”
Eta, who accused INEC returning officers of conniving with agents of the PDP, however, called for credible elections in Rivers state, so as to calm frayed nerves and douse tensions.
The re-runs
Consequent upon the inconclusive governorship polls in some states, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) few days ago fixes 23rd (today) March, 2019 for supplementary elections in the affected states.
While the court shut out INEC on Bauchi and Adamawa, the commission will still go ahead with the re-run exercise in Kano, Plateau, Adamawa, Sokoto and Benue.
What difference from judiciary?
Meanwhile, in readiness for the various petitions likely to arise from this year’s general elections, the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad recently swore in 17 of the 250 members of the general elections tribunals, where he reeled out the task at hand.
At the occasion, the acting CJN urged members of the elections tribunals for National Assembly, governorship and state assembly elections to discharge their duties with integrity as well as the fear of God.
He said their choice as members of the tribunals imposed on them the duty to rise above all temptations and do justice in accordance with the law.
The CJN said: “This is an enormous national assignment that will literally put the contents of your conscience to test. As judicial officers, you may have, one way or the other, trodden this somewhat dreaded terrain, but you must, against all odds, rise above the murky waters of failure and infamy.’
“You have just taken an oath that has not only imposed a course of upright moral undertaking on you but equally looped you with destiny.
“My candid advice is that, you willingly submit yourselves to the sanctity of the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution in the discharge of your judicial functions.
“By virtue of this oath, you are now armed with the power to adjudicate on electoral disputes and take decisions in accordance with your conviction which must be deeply rooted in law and not sentiments or public opinion.
“You are enjoined to always strike a balance between justice and rule of law as you embark on this critical national assignment.
Legal views
But allaying the fears of aggrieved candidates on justice delivery before the May inauguration period, an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Muyiwa Ilegbusi said the electoral Acts and constitution are clear on the issue of election petitions.
On the timing, Ilegbusi said, “At the tribunal level, you have 180 days to hear and determine petitions, at the Court of Appeal, it is 90 days, while you have 60 days to do that at the Supreme Court.”
“This is the system we operate. But of course, I understand that some new innovations have been introduced. I hope with that, justice would be delivered to the aggrieved parties, petitioners and respondents as the case may be within the time frame.”As aggrieved parties await tribunal verdicts in respect of their filed petitions across party lines, it remains to be seen whether or not the status quo would remain or it will simply be a clear departure from what we used to have.
