ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought (TAS) has urged the courts to summon the courage to nullify elections that are not in compliance with stipulated laws.
The Executive Director of the school, Dr Sam Amadi, stated this on Wednesday in Abuja at a news conference on Edo Governorship Election Tribunal judgment.
Amadi also called on the Court of Appeal to reassert its authority to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to do its job right.
He emphasised the need for INEC to always ensure that its processes and actions were fully in compliance with the provision of the Nigerian constitution, the Electoral Act and its guidelines.
According to him, the survival of democracy in Nigeria depends on an electoral process that gives citizens assurance that voting can truly be a means of changing government.
He said where the electoral process could no longer guarantee change of government because the process had been hijacked, then the incentive structure in democracy is lost.
“The base of judicial involvement in the election is that where the electoral manager truncates, violates the electoral process, the judiciary will reverse it as an incentive.
“Everything about governance is an incentive. If the electoral manager goes wrong, the redeeming feature is that the court will nullify the election.
“This will send a message that next time, do not do that way, it doesn’t pay, because if you do it, the court will nullify the election.
“But, where the court legitimises or validates that atrocity, it is a message that next time, do it, it pays,’’ he said.
Amadi said that the appeal became necessary following the petitions and other salient issues arising from the Edo Governorship Election Tribunal and the use of technicality by court.
He said that the petitions which centered on two core issues: alleged lack of compliance with Section 73 of the Electoral Act and wrong collation of election result, using duplicate result sheets, should not be overlooked.
The executive director said that elections had been rigged in the past by criminal-minded electoral officials often diverting sensitive materials to politicians who would write false election results which were used to declare them winners.
“To stop this, the Electoral Act, in Section 73(2), requires that serial numbers of all Biomodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), voting papers, accreditation sheets and result sheets must be written down in prescribed form before EC25B voting.
“If this is not done, the results are invalid,’’ he said.
Amadi expressed concern that the tribunal, in its judgment, rejected the evidence of improper collation of result for the election because the BVAS machines supplied by INEC were not operated to show the actual results.
He quoted the tribunal as describing the process as ‘dumping evidence before the court’.
He said that the court ought to have mandated INEC to operate the machine before it, and not giving the commission the opportunity to violate the law at the expense of the electorate and the victims of such actions.
Amadi said that the school’s focus on Edo governorship election in 2024 was not because electoral malpractices only occurred in the state, but because of its interest in Nigeria’s democracy.
“We don’t actually care about the outcome or who wins or who didn’t win, but it’s because of its important implication for the survival of democracy in Nigeria.
“TAS is a non-partisan and an independent think-tank of scholars, intellectuals and policy professionals committed to the propagation of insights and ideas that can transform the African society and usher an era of quality livelihood for the people,’’ he said.
Amadi said that if the country kept ignoring bad performances by INEC and the judiciary, Nigeria might move from a democracy to an electoral autocracy
He described Edo governorship election as important and a connecting bridge between the 2023 general elections and the 2027 general elections.
A fellow of the school, Chuks Akamadu, described the news conference as a timely call on INEC to improve on the country’s democracy and the judiciary to uphold right electoral procedures.
Another fellow of the school, Nwokoye Emmanuel, also urged INEC and the judiciary not to usurp the right of citizens to elect their leaders through elections.
Paul Obi, also a fellow of the school, suggested that anybody who acted against electoral laws, including INEC officials, should be made to face the consequences. (NAN)
