New Telegraph

Ending era of stormy elections

Piqued by the ugly developments that trailed the recently held supplementary governorship election in Adamawa State, lawyers have called on all stakeholders in the political process to be guided by due process and rule of law in their conducts so as to end the era of stormy elections in the country. AKEEM NAFIU reports

“We would continue to have stormy elections as long as we have officials that are not responsible and corrupt, who can be compromised. For so long, we would continue to have a caricature of elections in Nigeria. “We have a culture of impunity in Nigeria. Under normal circumstances, the REC ought to have been arrested and serious investigations ought to have commenced into his finances, into his activities and what have you”, one of them said. Another one said: “What has played out in the supplementary election was a clear display of illegality by the REC. What the REC has done is to usurp the functions of the Returning Officer and that is illegality. “If you look at Sections 25, 65, and 66 of the Electoral Act, what is clear is that it is only the Returning Officer that has the power not only to announce the result of an election, but also to declare the winner of an election”. The above quotes were part of submissions by some senior lawyers while responding to the logjam which occurred in Adamawa State in the aftermath of the supplementary governorship election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Adamawa was one of the states in which the March 11, 2023 governorship election was declared inconclusive by the electoral umpire, following which bye-elections were rescheduled for April 15, 2023. However, many Nigerians were taken aback when the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Adamawa State, Hudu Ari, in clear violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act, declared the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aisha Dahiru, popularly called Binani, as the winner of the election. The declaration was made while collation of results of 69 polling units from the 20 local governments where election was held are still being collated. The REC which had earlier adjourned the collation of results to 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 16, 2023, announced Binani as the winner, an hour before the scheduled time. As of 1 a.m., before the adjournment, results from relevant polling units in 10 out of 20 local governments have been announced with the PDP candidate, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, was still in the lead. Immediately after Ari’s declaration of Binani as the winner, the APC candidate gave an acceptance speech.

INEC voids Ari’s declaration

In a twist of events, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) later issued a statement voiding Ari’s declaration of Binani as winner of the election. The statement which was issued few hours after the declaration was signed by INEC’s National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye. It reads: The attention of the commission has been drawn to a purported declaration of a winner in the Adamawa governorship election by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) even when the process has clearly not been concluded. The action of the REC is a usurpation of the power of the Returning Officer “The commission, therefore, suspended the collation of results and invited the REC, returning officer and all those involved in the collation process to its headquarters in Abuja”.

Binani’s lawsuit, N2bn bribery allegation

In a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the APC candidate is seeking a judicial review of the decision of INEC on April 16 in respect of her declaration as the winner of the governorship election held on March 18 and the supplementary poll of April 15. Binani is also seeking an order preventing INEC and its agents from taking any further steps towards the declaration of the winner of the election pending the determination of her application for judicial review. In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/ CS/510/2023, Binani maintained that after the collation of results, INEC declared her as the winner of the elections, but the PDP and its candidate resorted to fighting and caused public disturbance which led to the beating and manhandling of an INEC staff. She added that the crisis led to INEC’s cancellation of the initial declaration. Binani further argued that INEC had no power to cancel the declaration as only the election petition tribunal was vested with such powers. She contended that by cancelling her declaration, INEC usurped the powers of the election petition tribunal which was the only court vested with powers on a declaration from the conduct of an election. The presiding judge, Inyang Ekwo, has fixed April 26, 2023 as the date to hear the suit. INEC, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri, were joined as 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents in the suit. In the meantime, the APC candidate has denied media reports that she gave INEC officials N2 billion to be announced as the winner. Refuting the reports, Binani alleged that some INEC officials paid a “nocturnal visit” to the government house to seal victory for Ahmadu Fintiri. She also alleged that the collation and returning officers were selected by Fintiri. However, dismissing the allegation, the electoral body said no such visit or meeting took place, let alone the compilation of any purported list of collation and returning officers. In a statement, INEC said it appointed and retained only one returning officer for the governorship election, who also doubled as the state collation officer for the presidential election. “Like all Returning Officers nationwide, he was issued with a letter of appointment by the Commission and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State was duly informed. The list of Collation Officers was also forwarded to the State with every page of the list personally endorsed by the Chairman of the Commission well ahead of the arrival of the National Commissioners. “Similarly, the same press statement created the impression that the national headquarters of the Commission specifically targetted Adamawa State in its deployment of National Commissioners and other officials with the sole intention of influencing the outcome of the supplementary election held on Saturday 25th April 2023 and sidelining the REC. Nothing can be further from the truth.

“For the record, it has been the standard policy and practice of the Commission to deploy National Commissioners, RECs and other staff from the headquarters or neighbouring States for supplementary or off-cycle elections where doing so is considered necessary. “In the case of Adamawa State where supplementary governorship election was held in 69 polling units, two National Commissioners were deployed while for Kebbi State involving 142 polling units, three National Commissioners were deployed. Similarly, one National Commissioner each was deployed to Sokoto, Zamfara, Imo, Rivers, Ekiti and Ogun States. “This has been the standard practice of the Commission of which all RECs are informed in advance. Therefore, Adamawa State was not specifically targeted. In all other States, the RECs worked cooperatively with the National Commissioners except in Adamawa State for reasons that are now obvious to all”, the statement reads.

Fintiri’s victory

Following the resumption of collation of results after the initial hiccups, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Ahmadu Fintiri as the winner of the Adamawa State governorship election. Announcing the result, INEC’s Returning Officer, Muhammed Melee, declared Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner after polling a total of 430,861 votes to defeat his major challenger, Aisha Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 398,788. In his acceptance speech after being declared winner, the governorelect thanked Adamawa’s electorate for voting for him, saying he was “humbled the more”. While congratulating his co-contenders for their struggle in the governorship race, Fintiri berated the REC for engaging in illegal act of usurping the powers of the Returning Officer to announce a winner when collation of results was ongoing.

Ari’s suspension by Buhari

In the meantime, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the immediate suspension of the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Adamawa State, Hudu Ari. A statement which emananted from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) indicated that Ari’s suspension would subsist pending investigations of his conducts during the April 15 supplementary election in Adamawa State. by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alkali Baba. The statement signed by the Director of Information in the SGF’s office, Willie Bassey, reads: “The President has directed the immediate investigation and prosecution, if found liable, of Hudu Yunusa Ari, by the Inspector General of Police, “Also, the President has directed investigation by the Inspector-General of Police, Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC. “They are to investigate the role of their officers in aiding and abetting the conduct/actions of Hudu Yunusa Ari and if found culpable, appropriate disciplinary actions to be meted out to them”.

Lawyers speak

Speaking while reacting to the action of the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Professor Hudu Ari, who declared Senator Aisha Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the supplementary governorship election while the process was still on, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Wahab Shittu, posited that what has played out in the supplementary election was a clear display of illegality by the REC. Shittu said: “The action carried out by the Adamawa REC is an attempt to invite anarchy. If you look at Sections 25, 65, and 66 of the Electoral Act, what is clear is that it is only the Returning Officer that has the power not only to announce the result of an election, but also to declare the winner of an election. “What the REC has done is to usurp the functions of the Returning Officer and that is illegality. “The era of stormy elections can be put to an end if we show respect for due process and rule of law. All players must allow the process to be regulated by the rule of law. Our democracy can only function effectively if we allow it to be regulated by prescriptions as provided for by the rule of law. On his part, Femi Falana (SAN), insisted that the Adamawa State gubernatorial candidate of the APC, Aisha Dahiru, should be investigated by the police, saying she was a party to her illegal declaration by the REC through her acceptance speech. “There are allegations that the sum of N2 billion is fetching hands. Those who were involved in the declaration of Binani as the winner should be questioned and brought to book. “Was there inducement? That has to be investigated. The officers who were at the high table with Mr Yunusa Ari, the Commissioner of Police, the Director of the State Security Service, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). “All those involved in the criminality that occurred have to be tried under the law. It is not enough for the IGP to simply redeploy the commissioner of police involved or for the Director of State Security to be withdrawn from the state.

“This is not the first time that it has happened, there have been false declarations of results before now”, Falana said. A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), alleged that political elites remain unruly and are in competition with each other for the money they want to gather. They are not interested in Nigerians and I don’t know why we Nigerians don’t get it. Agbakoba said: “Generally, politicians are desperate for power and the only reason they are desperate to clinch to power is what they can get. “How is it that in these past years of Nigerian democracy, we don’t see anything? We need to go back to the Uwais report and implement all the major recommendations that were made. “INEC is not a strong electoral regulator partly because it is doing things that it has no capacity to do and it is doing far too many things. “There is a need for the creation of the Electoral Offences Commission. With the nonsense that has taken place in Adamawa State, it is not the job of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to call on the Inspector-General of Police to prosecute those involved. It is the Electoral Offences Commission that would deal with that and would have no mercy on any politician that messes up. “INEC is too large and there is a need to unbundle it. Political regulation of parties is a work that is not best suited for INEC. So, we recommended the political regulatory agency that would deal with all the issues concerning political parties that comply with electoral laws, are they qualified to be there, are they doing their party primaries properly. “INEC cannot regulate political parties. INEC has only one job and it’s a very narrow job and it is to referee elections. So, when you put too many functions, INEC will break down”. In his submissions, another silk, Olalekan Ojo, posited that there is nothing inherently turbulent or chaotic in the conduct of elections at any level of governance. According to the SAN, conduct of elections ought to be a seamless thing and something that has to go on without any rancour. “But it is the players, human beings charged with the conduct of elections in Nigeria that are responsible for the stormy nature of elections in the country. “Go to the Adamawa saga. How would you explain what played out in Adamawa State? It was a theatre of the absurd brought about by those charged with the conduct of the election and those charged with the supervision of the conduct of the election in that state. “Why didn’t the Commissioner of Police arrest the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the brazing violation of the law? The Commissioner of Police stood there, approving either openly or tacitly to what that man did. “So, we would continue to have stormy elections as long as we have officials that are not responsible and corrupt, who can be compromised. For so long, we would continue to have a caricature of elections in Nigeria. “As a way forward, I would advocate that the law should be enforced as it relates to electoral offences. Anybody found culpable should be brought to book so that others would be deterred. “We have a culture of impunity in Nigeria. Under normal circumstances, the REC ought to have been arrested and serious investigations ought to have commenced into his finances, into his activities and what have you.” In his own contribution, a law teacher, Dr. Fassy Yusuf, described the events that played out in Adamawa as a coup against democracy “To start with, what played out in Yola is reprehensible, condemnable and a slap on democracy. To my humble mind, it is a coup against democracy and ordinarily, the actors and their accomplices should be made to face treasonable felony case. “Be that as it may, it behoves on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police to do a forensic investigation to determine the perpetrators, how their evil plans were hatched and to being the culprits to justice. “I cannot imagine that at this stage of our democratic journey, some Nigerians will be engaging in such a sordid act. We cannot jump to conclusions now, but it is mandatory that we get to know what actually transpired among these conspirators and at the end of the day, let justice takes its full course. “To forestall a future reoccurrence, it is mandatory that security agencies should sniff round for information on the perpetrators of this Neffarious act”, Yusuf said.

*Additional report by Francis Iwuchukwu

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