Anambra 2021: INEC, IPAC decry conflicting court orders

Ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) and the forum of political parties in the country, the Inter-Party Advisory Council, (IPAC) have raised the alarm over conflicting pronouncements by the court of co-ordinate jurisdiction in the country.

Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and IPAC Chairman, Dr Leonard Nzenwa separately expressed their displeasures, on Monday, at the third quarterly meeting between the commission and the leadership of political parties.

Tribune Online checks revealed that there have been several conflicting judgements from both state high court and the Federal High Courts across the country on the authentic candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance.

Further checks revealed that in the last one months, the electoral umpire has changed, twice on its website the candidate of APGA, in deference to court judgements.

Two individuals, Victor Oye and Jude Okeke continued to lay claim to the national secretariat of the APGA.

Professor Yakubu, however, said the conflicting judgements were constituting serious bottlenecks to his commission’s preparation for the Anambra State governorship election.

He said: “I cannot conclude my remarks without touching on the issue of litigations, particularly the conflicting orders emanating from courts of coordinate jurisdiction. I am aware that some of the cases are still in court and therefore sub judice.

“I must say that some of the decided cases are making our work difficult and we have been crying out loud for a long time. In particular, some pre-election litigations relating to the nomination of candidates for elections were not determined until after the elections.

“Consequently, in some instances, political parties were declared winners without candidates to immediately receive the Certificates of Return on account of protracted and conflicting litigations or where Courts rather than votes determine winners of elections.

This situation is compounded by cases on the leadership of political parties, thereby making the exercise of our regulatory responsibilities difficult.

It appears that in a number of electoral cases in Nigeria today, the settled law is now unsettled and the time-honoured principle of Stare decisis does not seem to matter any longer. What is most disconcerting for us is that the more INEC strives to improve the credibility and transparency of our electoral process, the more extraneous obstacles are put in our way through litigations.”

The INEC Chairman commended the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed and the President of the
Nigerian Bar Association, Olumide Akpata, had promised to address the unsavoury development.

“However, the commission appreciates the recent statement by His Lordship the Chief Justice of Nigeria as well as the strongly-worded concern by the Nigerian Bar Association.

We will work with both the Bar and the Bench to defend the electoral process in the best interest of our democracy. By the same token, as chairmen and leaders of political parties, you have a role to play. I wish to remind you that INEC is both an umpire and a regulator.

The Commission is an umpire in dealing even-handedly with political parties collectively, but when it comes to the management of intra-party affairs, it is a regulator. We will play our role decisively.”

Chairman of IPAC who aligned with the submission of INEC Chairman on conflicting judgements appealed to chairmen of political parties to be wary of the attendant negative image for the political parties.

Dr Nzenwa also expressed discomfort over the absence of a harmonious position from the National Assembly on the contentious clause on electronic transmission of results.

He said:” It is 52 days today that the Senate anchoring on Clause 52(3) of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill rejected the most crucial legislative instrument that would not only have altered the way elections are conducted in the country but also helped to stop elections rigging and other forms of manipulation of election results.

“I refer grievingly to the rejection of electronic transfer of election results by the National Assembly.

“On their part, Members of the House of Representatives did not fare better as their own form of rejection of the bill bespoke of a class of Nigerians that seem not to find anything good about the institution of credible mechanism to drive free and inclusive elections in the country.

“Outrage over rejection of electronic transfer of election results bill that would have motivated the Commission and the political parties to do more which is still smouldering in the country is understandable.

But we are glad that the bill is still within the concave of the National Assembly for harmonization by both chambers and urge all stakeholders to still persuade our elected representatives to listen to the voice of the people and support electronic transfer of election results.

“We all too quickly forgot that Introduction of the z-pack which enhanced task of transferring of elections information details from voting centres and introduction of other administrative innovations were largely responsible for the successful conduct of the Edo and Ondo Gubernatorial Polls which made these elections to be adjudged to be credible and fair particularly the Edo one.

“We support the commission to continue to develop and use deep-end technology to enhance our electoral process.

“The Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC encourages the commission to soldier on in the face of daunting challenges and do more within its powers to ensure that Nigerians vote count in all elections.

“We are comforted that the commission equivocally restated its stand on electronic transfer of elections result during the period as it made it abundantly clear that it had the capacity to do it even with protestation of law-makers.”

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